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Import a file that could be in one of three directories

I want to import a file called image.png. I know it is either in dir1, dir2 or dir3

enter image description here

On unix I can easily open it using a Kleene star.

xdg-open ~/dirA/*/image.png

On mathematica I tried to add a Kleene star to the Import argument string.

 Import[$HomeDirectory <> "/dirA/*/image.png"]

But this does not work.

Question:

How to import a file that is in $1$ of $n$ directories?

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  • $\begingroup$ comment to my future self: FileNames["image.png", {$HomeDirectory}, Infinity] $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 22:32

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Assuming dir1, dir2, etc are strings representing the directories, use

file = First[FileNames["image.png", {dir1, dir2, dir3}], $Failed]

The 2- and 3-argument forms of FileNames are pretty useful. If the $dir_i$ all live in the same parent directory, then you could use

file = First[FileNames["image.png", {parentDir}, 2], $Failed]
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    $\begingroup$ Interestingly FileNames will accept the Kleene star because it looks for files matching a string pattern. so FileNames[$HomeDirectory <> "/dirA/*/image.png"] works too! $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 4, 2021 at 10:25

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