Bash - Add Symbolic Links Subdirectories

Last verified: October 2026 against the GNU find manual (find(1)).

To efficiently add these symbolic links to all subdirectories that are missing them, you can use a find loop. This command will check each subdirectory and only create the link if a file or link named .env or .secret doesn't already exist.

The Command

Run this from the parent directory where your subdirectories are located:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -path . -exec sh -c '
    cd "$1" || exit
    [ ! -e .env ] && ln -s /mnt/volume1/docker/shared.env .env
    [ ! -e .secret ] && ln -s /mnt/volume1/docker/secret.env .secret
' _ {} \;

Breakdown of the Logic

• find . -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -path .: This finds all directories exactly one level down from your current location, excluding the current directory (.) itself.
• -exec sh -c '...' _ {} \;: This executes a small shell script for every directory found. cd "$1" || exit skips a directory that cannot be entered, so no links are created in the wrong place.
• [ ! -e .env ]: This is a "logical gate." It checks if the file .env does not exist. If it's missing, it proceeds to the && command to create the link.
• ln -s [target] [link_name]: Creates the symbolic link.

A Safer Alternative (Dry Run)

If you want to see which directories will be affected before actually making changes, you can use this "echo" version:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -path . -exec sh -c '
    cd "$1" || exit
    [ ! -e .env ] && echo "Linking .env in $1"
    [ ! -e .secret ] && echo "Linking .secret in $1"
' _ {} \;

Quick Note on Relative vs. Absolute Paths

Since you are using absolute paths for your targets (/mnt/volume1/...), these links will work regardless of which subdirectory they live in. If you ever move the docker folder, you'll need to update the links, but for a fixed mount point like yours, this is the most reliable method.

Add Folder Exceptions

To exclude specific subdirectories, you can use the ! -name test (for simple folder names) or a regular expression with ! -regex (for a longer list).

Here are the two best ways to do it, depending on how many folders you need to skip.

Option 1: Excluding by Folder Name (Simple)

If you just want to skip a few specific folders by name (e.g., backup and logs), use this version. The ! -name "..." tests tell find to ignore those specific directories.

find . -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -path . ! -name "backup" ! -name "logs" -exec sh -c '
    cd "$1" || exit
    [ ! -e .env ] && ln -s /mnt/volume1/docker/shared.env .env
    [ ! -e .secret ] && ln -s /mnt/volume1/docker/secret.env .secret
' _ {} \;

Option 2: Excluding a List (Cleanest for many folders)

If you have a long list of exceptions, you can use a regex pattern. Replace folder1|folder2|folder3 with the names of the directories you want to skip. -regex matches the whole path (for example ./folder1), so the pattern starts with .*/, and -regextype posix-extended must come before it so that | and the parentheses work.

find . -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -path . -regextype posix-extended ! -regex '.*/(folder1|folder2|folder3)' -exec sh -c '
    cd "$1" || exit
    [ ! -e .env ] && ln -s /mnt/volume1/docker/shared.env .env
    [ ! -e .secret ] && ln -s /mnt/volume1/docker/secret.env .secret
' _ {} \;

Pro-Tip: The "Dry Run"

I highly recommend running a "Dry Run" first to verify your exceptions are working correctly. This will print the folders it would have acted on without actually creating any links:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -path . ! -name "exclude_me" -exec echo "Processing: {}" \;
find . -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -path . -regextype posix-extended ! -regex '.*/(folder1|folder2|folder3)' -exec echo "Processing: {}" \;

Key Flags Used

• ! -name "folder": Tells find: "Do NOT include items with this name."
• ! -regex '...': Do NOT include items whose whole path matches the pattern (use with -regextype posix-extended).
• ! -path .: Prevents the command from trying to create links in the current parent directory (which would fail anyway since .env likely already exists there).
• -maxdepth 1: Ensures the command only looks at the folders right in front of you, rather than digging into sub-sub-directories.

Sources

• https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/find.1.html