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help for folders
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Show names of folders or directories in compact form

        folders [folderspec [folderspec [ ... ]]]


Description

    folders lists the names of folders or directories in compact form.
    Hereafter, folder means "folder or directory", regardless of what you or
    your operating system regard as standard terminology.

    With no arguments, folders lists names of folders within the current
    folder.

    Given a folderspec that is a pattern containing ? or *, folders lists
    names of folders matching that pattern.  The pattern may include a prefix
    indicating a folder that is not the current folder.

    Otherwise, given a folderspec that is a folder name, folders lists names
    of folders contained within that folder.

    The list of foldernames is returned in r(folders), so long as that is not
    empty.


Remarks 

    The name folders (rather than say dirs) is chosen partly to distinguish
    this command sharply from the inbuilt Stata command dir.

    It is recommended that even if you use Windows, you use forward slashes /
    rather than backward slashes \.  Stata will understand and there will
    then be no clash with other meanings for the backward slash.


Examples

    If you change directory

    . cd "`c(sysdir_stata)'"

    folders should then return ado as the name of the sole folder within the
    current folder. If you specify

    . folders ado

    folders should then return base updates as the names of the folders in
    that folder. If you specify

    . folders ado/base/c* ado/base/d*

    folders should then return c d as the names of all the folders satisfying
    those patterns. If you specify

    . folders frog

    folders should then return error 601 as no such folder exists.


Acknowledgements

    William Gould kindly told me about the subroutine for display in columns,
    which is copied from the source code for classutil.  Kit Baum was a very
    helpful tester.


Author

    Nicholas J. Cox, Durham University, U.K.
    n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk


Also see

    Online:  help for dir, help for extended macro functions, help for fs (if
             installed)