bash returning from recursion - bash

Question

I have to search all subdirs recursively and print *(number of * = depth of file/dir) type and name. The problem comes when i enter dir and then want to get out but nothing happens.
my test file
DIR test
*FILE ace
*FILE base
*DIR father
**FILE cookies
*DIR mother
**DIR how
***FILE youdoing
*FILE zebra
my code
maxDepth is how far in to the dir it can go(default 3) and currDepth is 1 at the beginning
function tree(){
maxDepth=$2
currDepth=$3
#print the starting file
if [ "$currDepth" -eq 0 ];then
printf "%s %s\n" DIR "$1"
currDepth=1
fi
for path in "$1"/*;do
for i in $( seq 1 $currDepth );do
echo -n *
done
if [ -d "$path" ];then
printf "%s %s\n" DIR "${path##*/}"
if [[ "$currDepth" -lt "$maxDepth" ]];then
tree "$path" "$maxDepth" "$(( currDepth + 1 ))"
fi
continue
fi
if [ -f "$path" ];then
printf "%s %s\n" FILE "${path##*/}"
continue
fi
if [ -L "$path" ];then
printf "%s %s\n" LINK "${path##*/}"
continue
fi
done
}
my output
DIR test
*FILE ace
*FILE base
*DIR father
**FILE cookies
**DIR mother
***DIR how
***FILE zebra
what am i doing wrong

Answer 1

Debug your script by doing set -x before you run it.
Make sure integers are always integers by declaring them with the -i integer attribute.
Use expression syntax consistently. It's a good idea to always use [[ ]] tests for string comparisons and (( )) for arithmetic and numeric comparisons, if your target shell is bash.
Use (( )) for loops instead of seq, which is nonstandard.
Explicitly declare your variables in the function (using local or declare) to ensure they are scoped to the function.
Actually call the inner tree.
#!/bin/bash
tree() {
local -i maxDepth=$2 # Make sure these values are always integers
local -i currDepth=$3
# print the starting file
if (( currDepth == 0 )); then # use bash arithmetic
printf "%s %s\n" DIR "$1"
currDepth=1
fi
for path in "$1"/*;do
for ((i=0; i<currDepth; i++)); do
printf '*'
done
if [[ -d "$path" ]];then
printf "%s %s\n" DIR "${path##*/}"
if [[ "$currDepth" -lt "$maxDepth" ]];then
tree "$path" "$maxDepth" "$(( currDepth + 1 ))"
fi
continue
fi
if [[ -f "$path" ]];then
printf "%s %s\n" FILE "${path##*/}"
continue
fi
if [[ -L "$path" ]];then
printf "%s %s\n" LINK "${path##*/}"
continue
fi
done
}

Answer 2

Here a solution using find, stat and sed:
find <DIR> -exec stat --printf="%n,%F\n" "{}" \; | \
sed -r -e "s/[^\/]+\//\*/g" -e "s/regular file/FILE/" -e "s/directory/DIR/" | \
sed -r -e "s/([\*]+)([^,]+),(.+)/\1 \3 \2/"
IMPORTANT: Use DIR not DIR/ otherwise DIR name will not appear in results.
Explanation:
find returns recursively all files and directory within DIR.
-exec option in find allows to pass each result to another command.
Here I'm passing each result to the command stat
stat has an option to format the output -printf (see manpage) :
%n is the filename (with relavtive path)
%F is the file type ( regular file, directory,symbolic link,block special file...)
So,
find <DIR> -exec stat --printf="%n,%F\n" "{}" \;
returns the following, one result by line (assuming that there are only regular files and directories in DIR) :
DIR/path/to/file,regular file
DIR/path/to/dir,directory
Then, I'm using sed to transform each line the way you required using regular expression:
Replace string/ by * -> ***basename,file type
Replace "regular file" by FILE
Replace "directory" by DIR
Shuffle around basename and filetype using back referencing in sed.
NOTE: I will not explain in details how regular expressions work as it would be too long.

Answer 3

I should have used local in front of currDepth=$3