g.findfile
Searches for GRASS data base files and sets variables for the shell.
g.findfile [-nlt] element=string file=string [mapset=string] format=name [--verbose] [--quiet] [--qq] [--ui]
Example:
g.findfile element=string file=string format=shell
grass.script.parse_command("g.findfile", element, file, mapset=None, format="shell", flags=None, verbose=None, quiet=None, superquiet=None)
Example:
gs.parse_command("g.findfile", element="string", file="string", format="json")
grass.tools.Tools.g_findfile(element, file, mapset=None, format="shell", flags=None, verbose=None, quiet=None, superquiet=None)
Example:
tools = Tools()
tools.g_findfile(element="string", file="string", format="json")
This grass.tools API is experimental in version 8.5 and expected to be stable in version 8.6.
Parameters
element=string [required]
Name of an element
file=string [required]
Name of an existing map
mapset=string
Name of a mapset (default: search path)
'.' for current mapset
format=name [required]
Output format
Allowed values: shell, json
Default: shell
shell: shell script style output
json: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
-n
Do not add quotes
Ignored when format is set to JSON
-l
List available elements and exit
-t
Return code 0 when file found, 1 otherwise
Behave like the test utility, 0 for true, 1 for false, no output
--help
Print usage summary
--verbose
Verbose module output
--quiet
Quiet module output
--qq
Very quiet module output
--ui
Force launching GUI dialog
element : str, required
Name of an element
file : str, required
Name of an existing map
mapset : str, optional
Name of a mapset (default: search path)
'.' for current mapset
format : str, required
Output format
Used as: name
Allowed values: shell, json
shell: shell script style output
json: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
Default: shell
flags : str, optional
Allowed values: n, l, t
n
Do not add quotes
Ignored when format is set to JSON
l
List available elements and exit
t
Return code 0 when file found, 1 otherwise
Behave like the test utility, 0 for true, 1 for false, no output
verbose : bool, optional
Verbose module output
Default: None
quiet : bool, optional
Quiet module output
Default: None
superquiet : bool, optional
Very quiet module output
Default: None
element : str, required
Name of an element
file : str, required
Name of an existing map
mapset : str, optional
Name of a mapset (default: search path)
'.' for current mapset
format : str, required
Output format
Used as: name
Allowed values: shell, json
shell: shell script style output
json: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
Default: shell
flags : str, optional
Allowed values: n, l, t
n
Do not add quotes
Ignored when format is set to JSON
l
List available elements and exit
t
Return code 0 when file found, 1 otherwise
Behave like the test utility, 0 for true, 1 for false, no output
verbose : bool, optional
Verbose module output
Default: None
quiet : bool, optional
Quiet module output
Default: None
superquiet : bool, optional
Very quiet module output
Default: None
Returns:
result : grass.tools.support.ToolResult | None
If the tool produces text as standard output, a ToolResult object will be returned. Otherwise, None
will be returned.
DESCRIPTION
g.findfile is designed for Bourne shell or Python scripts that need to search for mapset elements, including: raster, vector maps, region definitions and imagery groups.
The list of element names to search for is not fixed; any subdirectory of the mapset directory is a valid element name.
However, the user can find the list of standard GRASS element names
in the file $GISBASE/etc/element_list
. This is the file which
g.remove, g.rename and
g.copy use to determine which files need to be
deleted/renamed/copied for a given entity type.
NOTES
g.findfile writes four lines to standard output:
name='file_name'
mapset='mapset_name'
file='unix_filename'
fullname='grass_fullname'
The output is Bash commands to set the variable name to the GRASS data base file name, mapset to the mapset in which the file resides, and file to the full UNIX path name for the named file. These variables may be set in the Bash as follows:
eval `g.findfile element=name mapset=name file=name`
EXAMPLES
SHELL
Raster map example:
eval `g.findfile element=cell file=elevation`
If the specified file (here: raster map) does not exist, the variables will be set as follows:
name=
mapset=
fullname=
file=
The following is a way to test for this case:
if [ ! "$file" ]
then
exit 1
fi
Vector map example (including error message):
eval `g.findfile element=vector file="$G_OPT_V_INPUT"`
if [ ! "$file" ] ; then
g.message -e "Vector map <$G_OPT_V_INPUT> not found"
exit 1
fi
PYTHON
See Python Scripting Library for more info.
Note: The Python tab in the wxGUI can be used for entering the following code:
import grass.script as gs
gs.find_file('elevation', element = 'cell')
Parsing JSON output:
import grass.script as gs
data = gs.parse_command("g.findfile", file="elevation", element="raster", format="json")
print(data)
Possible output:
{'name': 'elevation', 'mapset': 'PERMANENT', 'fullname': 'elevation@PERMANENT', 'file': '/grassdata/PERMANENT/cell/elevation'}
SEE ALSO
g.filename, g.gisenv, g.mapsets, g.parser
AUTHOR
Michael Shapiro, U.S.Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
SOURCE CODE
Available at: g.findfile source code
(history)
Latest change: Friday Jul 25 17:02:43 2025 in commit f2e6221