find man page on 4.4BSD

Printed from http://www.polarhome.com/service/man/?qf=find&af=0&tf=2&of=4.4BSD

FIND(1)			  BSD General Commands Manual		       FIND(1)

NAME
     find — walk a file hierarchy

SYNOPSIS
     find [-H | -L | -P] [-Xdx] [-f file] [file ...] expression

DESCRIPTION
     Find recursively descends the directory tree for each file listed, evalu‐
     ating an expression (composed of the ``primaries'' and ``operands''
     listed below) in terms of each file in the tree.

     The options are as follows:

     -H	     The -H option causes the file information and file type (see
	     stat(2)) returned for each symbolic link specified on the command
	     line to be those of the file referenced by the link, not the link
	     itself.  If the referenced file does not exist, the file informa‐
	     tion and type will be for the link itself.	 File information of
	     all symbolic links not on the command line is that of the link
	     itself.

     -L	     The -L option causes the file information and file type (see
	     stat(2)) returned for each symbolic link to be those of the file
	     referenced by the link, not the link itself.  If the referenced
	     file does not exist, the file information and type will be for
	     the link itself.

     -P	     The -P option causes the file information and file type (see
	     stat(2)) returned for each symbolic link to be those of the link
	     itself.

     -X	     The -X option is a modification to permit find to be safely used
	     in conjunction with xargs(1).  If a file name contains any of the
	     delimiting characters used by xargs, a diagnostic message is dis‐
	     played on standard error, and the file is skipped.	 The delimit‐
	     ing characters include single (`` ' '') and double (`` " '')
	     quotes, backslash (``\''), space, tab and newline characters.

     -d	     The -d option causes find to perform a depth-first traversal,
	     i.e. directories are visited in post-order and all entries in a
	     directory will be acted on before the directory itself.  By
	     default, find visits directories in pre-order, i.e. before their
	     contents.	Note, the default is not a breadth-first traversal.

     -f	     The -f option specifies a file hierarchy for find to traverse.
	     File hierarchies may also be specified as the operands immedi‐
	     ately following the options.

     -x	     The -x option prevents find from descending into directories that
	     have a device number different than that of the file from which
	     the descent began.

PRIMARIES
     -atime n
	     True if the difference between the file last access time and the
	     time find was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour
	     period, is n 24-hour periods.

     -ctime n
	     True if the difference between the time of last change of file
	     status information and the time find was started, rounded up to
	     the next full 24-hour period, is n 24-hour periods.

     -exec utility [argument ...];
	     True if the program named utility returns a zero value as its
	     exit status.  Optional arguments may be passed to the utility.
	     The expression must be terminated by a semicolon (``;'').	If the
	     string ``{}'' appears anywhere in the utility name or the argu‐
	     ments it is replaced by the pathname of the current file.
	     Utility will be executed from the directory from which find was
	     executed.

     -fstype type
	     True if the file is contained in a file system of type type.  The
	     sysctl(8) command can be used to find out the types of filesys‐
	     tems that are available on the system:

		   sysctl vfs
	     In addition, there are two pseudo-types, ``local'' and
	     ``rdonly''.  The former matches any file system physically
	     mounted on the system where the find is being executed and the
	     latter matches any file system which is mounted read-only.

     -group gname
	     True if the file belongs to the group gname.  If gname is numeric
	     and there is no such group name, then gname is treated as a group
	     id.

     -inum n
	     True if the file has inode number n.

     -links n
	     True if the file has n links.

     -ls     This primary always evaluates to true.  The following information
	     for the current file is written to standard output: its inode
	     number, size in 512-byte blocks, file permissions, number of hard
	     links, owner, group, size in bytes, last modification time, and
	     pathname.	If the file is a block or character special file, the
	     major and minor numbers will be displayed instead of the size in
	     bytes.  If the file is a symbolic link, the pathname of the
	     linked-to file will be displayed preceded by ``->''.  The format
	     is identical to that produced by ``ls -dgils''.

     -mtime n
	     True if the difference between the file last modification time
	     and the time find was started, rounded up to the next full
	     24-hour period, is n 24-hour periods.

     -ok utility [argument ...];
	     The -ok primary is identical to the -exec primary with the excep‐
	     tion that find requests user affirmation for the execution of the
	     utility by printing a message to the terminal and reading a
	     response.	If the response is other than ``y'' the command is not
	     executed and the value of the ok expression is false.

     -name pattern
	     True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches
	     pattern.  Special shell pattern matching characters (``['',
	     ``]'', ``*'', and ``?'')  may be used as part of pattern.	These
	     characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a
	     backslash (``\'').

     -newer file
	     True if the current file has a more recent last modification time
	     than file.

     -nouser
	     True if the file belongs to an unknown user.

     -nogroup
	     True if the file belongs to an unknown group.

     -path pattern
	     True if the pathname being examined matches pattern.  Special
	     shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'', ``*'', and
	     ``?'')  may be used as part of pattern.  These characters may be
	     matched explicitly by escaping them with a backslash (``\'').
	     Slashes (``/'') are treated as normal characters and do not have
	     to be matched explicitly.

     -perm [-mode]
	     The mode may be either symbolic (see chmod(1)) or an octal num‐
	     ber.  If the mode is symbolic, a starting value of zero is
	     assumed and the mode sets or clears permissions without regard to
	     the process' file mode creation mask.  If the mode is octal, only
	     bits 07777 (S_ISUID | S_ISGID | S_ISTXT | S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG |
	     S_IRWXO) of the file's mode bits participate in the comparison.
	     If the mode is preceded by a dash (``-''), this primary evaluates
	     to true if at least all of the bits in the mode are set in the
	     file's mode bits.	If the mode is not preceded by a dash, this
	     primary evaluates to true if the bits in the mode exactly match
	     the file's mode bits.  Note, the first character of a symbolic
	     mode may not be a dash (``-'').

     -print  This primary always evaluates to true.  It prints the pathname of
	     the current file to standard output.  If none of -exec, -ls, or
	     -ok is specified, the given expression shall be effectively
	     replaced by (given expression) -print.

     -prune  This primary always evaluates to true.  It causes find to not
	     descend into the current file.  Note, the -prune primary has no
	     effect if the -d option was specified.

     -size n[c]
	     True if the file's size, rounded up, in 512-byte blocks is n.  If
	     n is followed by a ``c'', then the primary is true if the file's
	     size is n bytes.

     -type t
	     True if the file is of the specified type.	 Possible file types
	     are as follows:

		   b	 block special
		   c	 character special
		   d	 directory
		   f	 regular file
		   l	 symbolic link
		   p	 FIFO
		   s	 socket

     -user uname
	     True if the file belongs to the user uname.  If uname is numeric
	     and there is no such user name, then uname is treated as a user
	     id.

     All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to be pre‐
     ceded by a plus sign (``+'') or a minus sign (``-'').  A preceding plus
     sign means ``more than n'', a preceding minus sign means ``less than n''
     and neither means ``exactly n'' .

OPERATORS
     The primaries may be combined using the following operators.  The opera‐
     tors are listed in order of decreasing precedence.

     (expression)  This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression
		   evaluates to true.

     !expression   This is the unary NOT operator.  It evaluates to true if
		   the expression is false.

     expression -and expression

     expression expression
		   The -and operator is the logical AND operator.  As it is
		   implied by the juxtaposition of two expressions it does not
		   have to be specified.  The expression evaluates to true if
		   both expressions are true.  The second expression is not
		   evaluated if the first expression is false.

     expression -or expression
		   The -or operator is the logical OR operator.	 The expres‐
		   sion evaluates to true if either the first or the second
		   expression is true.	The second expression is not evaluated
		   if the first expression is true.

     All operands and primaries must be separate arguments to find.  Primaries
     which themselves take arguments expect each argument to be a separate
     argument to find.

EXAMPLES
     The following examples are shown as given to the shell:

     find  /  \!  -name	 "*.c"	-print
	    Print out a list of all the files whose names do not end in
	    ``.c''.

     find  /  -newer  ttt  -user  wnj  -print
	    Print out a list of all the files owned by user ``wnj'' that are
	    newer than the file ``ttt''.

     find  /  \!  \(  -newer  ttt  -user  wnj  \)  -print
	    Print out a list of all the files which are not both newer than
	    ``ttt'' and owned by ``wnj''.

     find  /  \(  -newer  ttt  -or  -user wnj  \)  -print
	    Print out a list of all the files that are either owned by ``wnj''
	    or that are newer than ``ttt''.

SEE ALSO
     chmod(1), locate(1), stat(2), fts(3), getgrent(3), getpwent(3),
     strmode(3), symlink(7)

STANDARDS
     The find utility syntax is a superset of the syntax specified by the IEEE
     Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) standard.

     The -s and -X options and the -inum and -ls primaries are extensions to
     IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”).

     Historically, the -d, -h and -x options were implemented using the pri‐
     maries ``-depth'', ``-follow'', and ``-xdev''.  These primaries always
     evaluated to true.	 As they were really global variables that took effect
     before the traversal began, some legal expressions could have unexpected
     results.  An example is the expression ``-print -o -depth''.  As -print
     always evaluates to true, the standard order of evaluation implies that
     -depth would never be evaluated.  This is not the case.

     The operator ``-or'' was implemented as ``-o'', and the operator ``-and''
     was implemented as ``-a''.

     Historic implementations of the exec and ok primaries did not replace the
     string ``{}'' in the utility name or the utility arguments if it had pre‐
     ceding or following non-whitespace characters.  This version replaces it
     no matter where in the utility name or arguments it appears.

BUGS
     The special characters used by find are also special characters to many
     shell programs.  In particular, the characters ``*'', ``['', ``]'',
     ``?'', ``('', ``)'', ``!'', ``\'' and ``;'' may have to be escaped from
     the shell.

     As there is no delimiter separating options and file names or file names
     and the expression, it is difficult to specify files named ``-xdev'' or
     ``!''.  These problems are handled by the -f option and the getopt(3)
     ``--'' construct.

BSD				  May 9, 1995				   BSD
[top]

List of man pages available for 4.4BSD

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net