FileName Listing Formats Explained: CSV, JSON, and Plain Text

1) What to consider before you start

Purpose: Do you need names only, full paths, sizes, dates, or metadata?
Depth: Single directory or recursive (include subfolders)?
Output format: Plain text, CSV, JSON, Excel-friendly, or piping into other tools?
Encoding: Use UTF-8 for portability, especially with non-ASCII filenames.
Permissions: Ensure you have read access to directories and files.

2) Windows

Using File Explorer (quick, manual)

Open a folder, press Ctrl+A to select, hold Shift and right-click → “Copy as path” to copy full paths of selected files to clipboard.
Paste into Notepad or Excel and clean up if you need only filenames (use Excel formulas to strip paths).

Using Command Prompt (cmd)

Non-recursive filenames only:
```
dir /b > filenames.txt 
```
Recursive (include subdirectories):
```
dir /b /s > filenames.txt 
```
Include file sizes and dates (human-readable):
```
dir /s > dirfull.txt 
```
Notes: /b gives bare format (names only). /s recurses subdirectories.

Using PowerShell (recommended for flexibility)

Non-recursive, filenames only:


Get-ChildItem -File | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name > filenames.txt

Recursive, full paths:


Get-ChildItem -Recurse -File | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName > filenames.txt

Recursive with size and last write time, export to CSV:


Get-ChildItem -Recurse -File | Select-Object FullName, Length, LastWriteTime | Export-Csv -Path files.csv -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8

Filter by extension:


Get-ChildItem -Recurse -File -Filter *.pdf | Select-Object FullName > pdf_list.txt

3) macOS

Using Finder (manual)

Select files, right-click → “Copy” then paste into a text editor — Finder copies icons, so prefer Terminal commands for textual listings.

Using Terminal (zsh/bash)

Non-recursive filenames only:
```
ls -1 > filenames.txt 
```
Recursive with paths:
```
find . -type f > filenames.txt 
```

Limit depth:


find . -maxdepth 1 -type f > filenames.txt

Include file size and modification time (tab-separated):


find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 stat -f "%N	%z	%m" > files.tsv

Export to CSV (with header):


printf "path,size,mtime " > files.csv find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 stat -f ""%N",%z,%m" >> files.csv

Notes: macOS stat format differs from Linux; use -f with format tokens.

4) Linux

Using Terminal (bash)

Non-recursive filenames:
```
ls -1 > filenames.txt 
```

Recursive with full paths:


find /path/to/dir -type f > filenames.txt

Include size and modification time:


find /path/to/dir -type f -printf "%p	%s	%TY-%Tm-%Td %TH:%TM:%TS " > files.tsv

Export to CSV (escaping quotes):


printf "path,size,mtime " > files.csv find /path/to/dir -type f -printf ""%p",%s,%TY-%Tm-%Td %TH:%TM:%TS " >> files.csv

Use GNU tools like tree for a tidy view:


tree -if --noreport /path/to/dir > tree_listing.txt

5) Cross-platform scripting

Python (works on Windows/macOS/Linux)

Basic recursive listing to CSV:


#!/usr/bin/env python3 import os, csv root = "/path/to/dir" with open("files.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as csvfile: writer = csv.writer(csvfile) writer.writerow(["path","size","mtime"]) for dirpath, _, filenames in os.walk(root):     for f in filenames:         full = os.path.join(dirpath, f)         stat = os.stat(full)         writer.writerow([full, stat.st_size, int(stat.st_mtime)])

Notes: Replace root with “.” for current directory.

Node.js (for JavaScript environments)

Example using fs and path modules to write JSON or CSV. (Not shown — can provide if needed.)

6) Filtering and patterns

By extension: PowerShell -Filter or Get-ChildItem .pdf; find -name “.pdf” on Unix.
By date: PowerShell’s Where-Object with LastWriteTime; on Unix, use find -mtime/-newermt.
By size: PowerShell -Where Length -gt X; find -size on Unix.

7) Encoding and CSV pitfalls

Use UTF-8 when filenames contain non-ASCII. PowerShell Export-Csv supports -Encoding UTF8.
Enclose paths in quotes in CSV and escape quotes inside names. Python csv module handles this.

8) Examples of common tasks (quick snippets)

Get only top-level filenames (macOS/Linux):


find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -printf "%f " > top_files.txt

Create a list of file paths with relative paths (Windows PowerShell):


Get-ChildItem -Recurse -File | ForEach-Object { $_.FullName.Replace($PWD.Path + "", "") } > rel_paths.txt

Produce a JSON array of file objects (Python):


import os, json out=[] for dirpath, _, filenames in os.walk("."): for f in filenames:     p=os.path.join(dirpath,f)     s=os.stat(p)     out.append({"path":p,"size":s.st_size,"mtime":int(s.st_mtime)}) with open("files.json","w",encoding="utf-8") as j: json.dump(out,j,ensure_ascii=False,indent=2)

9) Speed and performance tips

Avoid spawning a new process per file when possible (use find -printf or Python os.walk).
For very large trees, stream output to a file and avoid loading everything into memory.
Use parallel or xargs -P for CPU-bound metadata operations but be cautious with disk I/O.

10) Troubleshooting

“Permission denied”: run with rights or skip errors (find 2>/dev/null).
Weird characters: ensure locale/terminal supports UTF-8.
CRLF issues: normalize when transferring between Windows and Unix.

11) Quick reference table

Platform	Command (recursive)	Outputs
Windows (PowerShell)	Get-ChildItem -Recurse -File	Full paths, can export CSV
Windows (cmd)	dir /b /s	Bare list or full listing
macOS/Linux	find . -type f	Full relative paths, flexible printf
Cross-platform	Python os.walk script	Custom CSV/JSON with metadata

12) Final notes

For one-off needs, built-in commands (dir/ls/find/PowerShell) are fastest. For repeatable, shareable outputs or metadata-rich lists use PowerShell Export-Csv or a small Python script.
If you want, tell me your OS and exact requirements (recursive? extensions? CSV/JSON?) and I’ll give a ready-to-run command or script tuned to your case.