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From: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: finding out if a directory is empty in C program
	(was Re: How do I tell when a directory is empty in a script?)
Message-ID: <1991Apr25.223540.19303@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 25 Apr 91 22:35:40 GMT
References: <900@homer.UUCP> <1991Apr15.180550.14750@beaver.cs.washington.edu> <1991Apr18.054735.6733@metapro.DIALix.oz.au> <1991Apr25.022029.5476@csc.canberra.edu.au>
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In article <1991Apr25.022029.5476@csc.canberra.edu.au>, rvp@softserver.canberra.edu.au (Rey Paulo) writes:
|> Is there any system call or library routine in UNIX which tests whether
|> a directory is empty?

No.  You open the directory with opendir() and read it, and if the only
entries in it are "." and "..", it's empty.  Just like in a shell script
(except the script uses ls, or shell wildcard expansion, instead of opendir()).

And if you have a system that doesn't have opendir() or something like it,
instead forcing you to open and read the directory file directly, then you
should find your vendor and shoot him.

-- 
Jonathan Kamens			              USnail:
MIT Project Athena				11 Ashford Terrace
jik@Athena.MIT.EDU				Allston, MA  02134
Office: 617-253-8085			      Home: 617-782-0710

Disclaimer: If you do find your vendor and shoot him, I'm not responsible. :-)