FIND(1L)FIND(1L)NAMEfind - search for files in a directory hierarchy
SYNOPSISfind [path...] [expression]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents the GNU version of find. find
searches the directory tree rooted at each given file name
by evaluating the given expression from left to right,
according to the rules of precedence (see section OPERA-
TORS), until the outcome is known (the left hand side is
false for and operations, true for or), at which point
find moves on to the next file name.
The first argument that begins with `-', `(', `)', `,', or
`!' is taken to be the beginning of the expression; any
arguments before it are paths to search, and any arguments
after it are the rest of the expression. If no paths are
given, the current directory is used. If no expression is
given, the expression `-print' is used.
find exits with status 0 if all files are processed suc-
cessfully, greater than 0 if errors occur.
EXPRESSIONS
The expression is made up of options (which affect overall
operation rather than the processing of a specific file,
and always return true), tests (which return a true or
false value), and actions (which have side effects and
return a true or false value), all separated by operators.
-and is assumed where the operator is omitted. If the
expression contains no actions other than -prune, -print
is performed on all files for which the expression is
true.
OPTIONS
All options always return true. They always take effect,
rather than being processed only when their place in the
expression is reached. Therefore, for clarity, it is best
to place them at the beginning of the expression.
-daystart
Measure times (for -amin, -atime, -cmin, -ctime,
-mmin, and -mtime) from the beginning of today
rather than from 24 hours ago.
-depth Process each directory's contents before the direc-
tory itself.
-follow
Dereference symbolic links. Implies -noleaf.
-help, --help
Print a summary of the command-line usage of find
and exit.
-maxdepth levels
Descend at most levels (a non-negative integer)
levels of directories below the command line argu-
ments. `-maxdepth 0' means only apply the tests
and actions to the command line arguments.
-mindepth levels
Do not apply any tests or actions at levels less
than levels (a non-negative integer). `-mindepth
1' means process all files except the command line
arguments.
-mount Don't descend directories on other filesystems. An
alternate name for -xdev, for compatibility with
some other versions of find.
-noleaf
Do not optimize by assuming that directories con-
tain 2 fewer subdirectories than their hard link
count. This option is needed when searching
filesystems that do not follow the Unix directory-
link convention, such as CD-ROM or MS-DOS filesys-
tems or AFS volume mount points. Each directory on
a normal Unix filesystem has at least 2 hard links:
its name and its `.' entry. Additionally, its
subdirectories (if any) each have a `..' entry
linked to that directory. When find is examining a
directory, after it has statted 2 fewer subdirecto-
ries than the directory's link count, it knows that
the rest of the entries in the directory are non-
directories (`leaf' files in the directory tree).
If only the files' names need to be examined, there
is no need to stat them; this gives a significant
increase in search speed.
-version, --version
Print the find version number and exit.
-xdev Don't descend directories on other filesystems.
TESTS
Numeric arguments can be specified as
+n for greater than n,
-n for less than n,
n for exactly n.
-amin n
File was last accessed n minutes ago.
-anewer file
File was last accessed more recently than file was
modified. -anewer is affected by -follow only if
-follow comes before -anewer on the command line.
-atime n
File was last accessed n*24 hours ago.
-cmin n
File's status was last changed n minutes ago.
-cnewer file
File's status was last changed more recently than
file was modified. -cnewer is affected by -follow
only if -follow comes before -cnewer on the command
line.
-ctime n
File's status was last changed n*24 hours ago.
-empty File is empty and is either a regular file or a
directory.
-false Always false.
-fstype type
File is on a filesystem of type type. The valid
filesystem types vary among different versions of
Unix; an incomplete list of filesystem types that
are accepted on some version of Unix or another is:
ufs, 4.2, 4.3, nfs, tmp, mfs, S51K, S52K. You can
use -printf with the %F directive to see the types
of your filesystems.
-gid n File's numeric group ID is n.
-group gname
File belongs to group gname (numeric group ID
allowed).
-ilname pattern
Like -lname, but the match is case insensitive.
-iname pattern
Like -name, but the match is case insensitive. For
example, the patterns `fo*' and `F??' match the
file names `Foo', `FOO', `foo', `fOo', etc.
-inum n
File has inode number n.
-ipath pattern
Like -path, but the match is case insensitive.
-iregex pattern
Like -regex, but the match is case insensitive.
-links n
File has n links.
-lname pattern
File is a symbolic link whose contents match shell
pattern pattern. The metacharacters do not treat
`/' or `.' specially.
-mmin n
File's data was last modified n minutes ago.
-mtime n
File's data was last modified n*24 hours ago.
-name pattern
Base of file name (the path with the leading direc-
tories removed) matches shell pattern pattern. The
metacharacters (`*', `?', and `[]') do not match a
`.' at the start of the base name. To ignore a
directory and the files under it, use -prune; see
an example in the description of -path.
-newer file
File was modified more recently than file. -newer
is affected by -follow only if -follow comes before
-newer on the command line.
-nouser
No user corresponds to file's numeric user ID.
-nogroup
No group corresponds to file's numeric group ID.
-path pattern
File name matches shell pattern pattern. The
metacharacters do not treat `/' or `.' specially;
so, for example,
find . -path './sr*sc'
will print an entry for a directory called
'./src/misc' (if one exists). To ignore a whole
directory tree, use -prune rather than checking
every file in the tree. For example, to skip the
directory `src/emacs' and all files and directories
under it, and print the names of the other files
found, do something like this:
find . -path './src/emacs' -prune-o
-print
-perm mode
File's permission bits are exactly mode (octal or
symbolic). Symbolic modes use mode 0 as a point of
departure.
-perm -mode
All of the permission bits mode are set for the
file.
-perm +mode
Any of the permission bits mode are set for the
file.
-regex pattern
File name matches regular expression pattern. This
is a match on the whole path, not a search. For
example, to match a file named `./fubar3', you can
use the regular expression `.*bar.' or `.*b.*3',
but not `b.*r3'.
-size n[bckw]
File uses n units of space. The units are 512-byte
blocks by default or if `b' follows n, bytes if `c'
follows n, kilobytes if `k' follows n, or 2-byte
words if `w' follows n. The size does not count
indirect blocks, but it does count blocks in sparse
files that are not actually allocated.
-true Always true.
-type c
File is of type c:
b block (buffered) special
c character (unbuffered) special
d directory
p named pipe (FIFO)
f regular file
l symbolic link
s socket
-uid n File's numeric user ID is n.
-used n
File was last accessed n days after its status was
last changed.
-user uname
File is owned by user uname (numeric user ID
allowed).
-xtype c
The same as -type unless the file is a symbolic
link. For symbolic links: if -follow has not been
given, true if the file is a link to a file of type
c; if -follow has been given, true if c is `l'. In
other words, for symbolic links, -xtype checks the
type of the file that -type does not check.
ACTIONS
-exec command ;
Execute command; true if 0 status is returned. All
following arguments to find are taken to be argu-
ments to the command until an argument consisting
of `;' is encountered. The string `{}' is replaced
by the current file name being processed everywhere
it occurs in the arguments to the command, not just
in arguments where it is alone, as in some versions
of find. Both of these constructions might need to
be escaped (with a `\') or quoted to protect them
from expansion by the shell. The command is exe-
cuted in the starting directory.
-fls file
True; like -ls but write to file like -fprint.
-fprint file
True; print the full file name into file file. If
file does not exist when find is run, it is cre-
ated; if it does exist, it is truncated. The file
names ``/dev/stdout'' and ``/dev/stderr'' are han-
dled specially; they refer to the standard output
and standard error output, respectively.
-fprint0 file
True; like -print0 but write to file like -fprint.
-fprintf file format
True; like -printf but write to file like -fprint.
-ok command ;
Like -exec but ask the user first (on the standard
input); if the response does not start with `y' or
`Y', do not run the command, and return false.
-print True; print the full file name on the standard out-
put, followed by a newline.
-print0
True; print the full file name on the standard out-
put, followed by a null character. This allows
file names that contain newlines to be correctly
interpreted by programs that process the find out-
put.
-printf format
True; print format on the standard output, inter-
preting `\' escapes and `%' directives. Field
widths and precisions can be specified as with the
`printf' C function. Unlike -print, -printf does
not add a newline at the end of the string. The
escapes and directives are:
\a Alarm bell.
\b Backspace.
\c Stop printing from this format immediately
and flush the output.
\f Form feed.
\n Newline.
\r Carriage return.
\t Horizontal tab.
\v Vertical tab.
\\ A literal backslash (`\').
A `\' character followed by any other character is
treated as an ordinary character, so they both are
printed.
%% A literal percent sign.
%a File's last access time in the format
returned by the C `ctime' function.
%Ak File's last access time in the format speci-
fied by k, which is either `@' or a direc-
tive for the C `strftime' function. The
possible values for k are listed below; some
of them might not be available on all sys-
tems, due to differences in `strftime'
between systems.
@ seconds since Jan. 1, 1970, 00:00
GMT.
Time fields:
H hour (00..23)
I hour (01..12)
k hour ( 0..23)
l hour ( 1..12)
M minute (00..59)
p locale's AM or PM
r time, 12-hour (hh:mm:ss [AP]M)
S second (00..61)
T time, 24-hour (hh:mm:ss)
X locale's time representation (H:M:S)
Z time zone (e.g., EDT), or nothing if
no time zone is determinable
Date fields:
a locale's abbreviated weekday name
(Sun..Sat)
A locale's full weekday name, variable
length (Sunday..Saturday)
b locale's abbreviated month name
(Jan..Dec)
B locale's full month name, variable
length (January..December)
c locale's date and time (Sat Nov 04
12:02:33 EST 1989)
d day of month (01..31)
D date (mm/dd/yy)
h same as b
j day of year (001..366)
m month (01..12)
U week number of year with Sunday as
first day of week (00..53)
w day of week (0..6)
W week number of year with Monday as
first day of week (00..53)
x locale's date representation
(mm/dd/yy)
y last two digits of year (00..99)
Y year (1970...)
%b File's size in 512-byte blocks (rounded up).
%c File's last status change time in the format
returned by the C `ctime' function.
%Ck File's last status change time in the format
specified by k, which is the same as for %A.
%d File's depth in the directory tree; 0 means
the file is a command line argument.
%f File's name with any leading directories
removed (only the last element).
%F Type of the filesystem the file is on; this
value can be used for -fstype.
%g File's group name, or numeric group ID if
the group has no name.
%G File's numeric group ID.
%h Leading directories of file's name (all but
the last element).
%H Command line argument under which file was
found.
%i File's inode number (in decimal).
%k File's size in 1K blocks (rounded up).
%l Object of symbolic link (empty string if
file is not a symbolic link).
%m File's permission bits (in octal).
%n Number of hard links to file.
%p File's name.
%P File's name with the name of the command
line argument under which it was found
removed.
%s File's size in bytes.
%t File's last modification time in the format
returned by the C `ctime' function.
%Tk File's last modification time in the format
specified by k, which is the same as for %A.
%u File's user name, or numeric user ID if the
user has no name.
%U File's numeric user ID.
A `%' character followed by any other character is
discarded (but the other character is printed).
-prune If -depth is not given, true; do not descend the
current directory.
If -depth is given, false; no effect.
-ls True; list current file in `ls -dils' format on
standard output. The block counts are of 1K
blocks, unless the environment variable
POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, in which case 512-byte
blocks are used.
OPERATORS
Listed in order of decreasing precedence:
( expr )
Force precedence.
! expr True if expr is false.
-not expr
Same as ! expr.
expr1 expr2
And (implied); expr2 is not evaluated if expr1 is
false.
expr1 -a expr2
Same as expr1 expr2.
expr1 -and expr2
Same as expr1 expr2.
expr1 -o expr2
Or; expr2 is not evaluated if expr1 is true.
expr1 -or expr2
Same as expr1 -o expr2.
expr1 , expr2
List; both expr1 and expr2 are always evaluated.
The value of expr1 is discarded; the value of the
list is the value of expr2.
SEE ALSOlocate(1L), locatedb(5L), updatedb(1L), xargs(1L) Finding
Files (on-line in Info, or printed)
FIND(1L)
