FIND(1) OpenBSD Reference Manual FIND(1)NAMEfind - walk a file hierarchy
SYNOPSISfind [-dHhLXx] [-f path] path ... [expression]
DESCRIPTIONfind recursively descends the directory tree for each path listed,
evaluating an expression (composed of the ``primaries'' and ``operators''
listed below) in terms of each file in the tree. In the absence of an
expression, -print is assumed. If an expression is given, but none of
the primaries -exec, -ls, -ok, -print, or -print0 are specified, the
given expression is effectively replaced by ( given expression ) -print.
The options are as follows:
-d Causes find to visit directories in post-order i.e. 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.
-f path
Specifies a file hierarchy for find to traverse. File
hierarchies may be specified without the -f option if they are
given immediately after any other options.
-H Causes the file information and file type (see stat(2)) returned
for each symbolic link encountered 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 information 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.
-h An alias for the -L option. This option exists for backwards
compatibility.
-L 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.
-X 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 displayed on standard error, and
the file is skipped. The delimiting characters include single
(`'') and double (`"') quotes, backslash (`\'), space, tab, and
newline (`\n') characters. Consider using -print0 instead.
-x Prevents find from descending into directories that have a device
number different than that of the file from which the descent
began.
It is not an error to specify more than one of the mutually exclusive
options -H and -L. Where more than one of these options is specified,
the last option given overrides the others.
PRIMARIES-amin n
True if the difference between the file last access time and the
time find was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is n
minutes.
-anewer file
True if the current file has a more recent last access time than
file.
-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.
-cmin 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 minute, is n minutes.
-cnewer file
True if the current file has a more recent last change time than
file.
-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.
-depth This primary always evaluates to true. The same as specifying
the -d option.
-empty True if the current file or directory is empty.
-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 arguments
it is replaced by the pathname of the current file. utility will
be executed from the directory from which find was executed.
Since utility is executed every time a match is made, it is often
more efficient to pipe the output of find to xargs(1).
-execdir utility [argument ...] ;
Identical to the -exec primary with the exception that utility
will be executed from the directory that holds the current file.
The filename substituted for the string "{}" is not qualified.
-flags [-]flags
The flags are comma-separated symbolic file flags (see chflags(1)
for a list of valid flag names). If the flags are preceded by a
dash (`-'), this primary evaluates to true if at least all
specified flags are set in the file's flags. If the flags are
not preceded by a dash, this primary evaluates to true if the
flags specified exactly match those of the file.
-follow
This primary always evaluates to true. The same as specifying
the -H option.
-fstype type
True if the file is contained in a file system of type type. Two
special file system types are recognized: ``local'' and
``rdonly''. These do not describe actual file system types; the
former matches any file system physically mounted on the system
where find is being executed whereas 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.
-iname pattern
Identical to the -name primary except that the matching is done
in a case insensitive manner.
-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 -dils''.
-maxdepth n
True if the current search depth is less than or equal to what is
specified in n.
-mindepth n
True if the current search depth is at least what is specified in
n.
-mmin n
True if the difference between the file last modification time
and the time find was started, rounded up to the next full
minute, is n minutes.
-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.
-name pattern
True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches
pattern, which may use any of the special characters documented
in glob(7).
-newer file
True if the current file has a more recent last modification time
than file.
-nogroup
True if the file belongs to an unknown group.
-nouser
True if the file belongs to an unknown user.
-ok utility [argument ...] ;
Identical to the -exec primary with the exception that find
requests user affirmation for the execution of 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.
-path pattern
True if the pathname being examined matches pattern, which may
use any of the special characters documented in glob(7). 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
number. If the mode is symbolic, a starting value of zero is
assumed and the mode sets or clears permissions without regard to
the process's 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, followed by a newline (`\n')
character.
-print0
This primary always evaluates to true. It prints the pathname of
the current file to standard output, followed by a null
character, suitable for use with the -0 option to xargs(1).
-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.
-xdev This primary always evaluates to true. The same as specifying
the -x option.
All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to be
preceded 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''. Exceptions are the primaries mindepth
and maxdepth.
OPERATORS
The primaries may be combined using the following operators. The
operators 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
expression 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.
Operators, primaries, and arguments to primaries must be separate
arguments to find, i.e. they should be separated by whitespace.
EXIT STATUS
The find utility exits with a value of 0 on successful traversal of all
path operands or with a value >0 if an error occurred.
EXAMPLES
Print out a list of all the files whose names end in ``.c'':
$ find / -name '*.c'
Print out a list of all the files which are not both newer than ``ttt''
and owned by ``wnj'':
$ find / \! \( -newer ttt -user wnj \)
Print out a list of all core files on local file systems:
$ find / \! -fstype local -prune -or -name '*.core'
Find all files in /usr/src ending in a dot and single digit, but skip
directory /usr/src/gnu:
$ find /usr/src -path /usr/src/gnu -prune -or -name \*.[0-9]
Find and remove all *.jpg and *.gif files under the current working
directory:
$ find . \( -name \*.jpg -or -name \*.gif \) -exec rm {} \;
or
$ find . \( -name \*.jpg -or -name \*.gif \) -print0 | xargs -0r rm
SEE ALSOchflags(1), chmod(1), locate(1), ls(1), whereis(1), which(1), xargs(1),
stat(2), fts(3), glob(7), symlink(7)STANDARDS
The find utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (``POSIX'')
specification.
The options [-dfhXx] and primaries -amin, -anewer, -cmin, -cnewer,
-empty, -execdir, -flags, -follow, -fstype, -iname, -inum, -ls,
-maxdepth, -mindepth, -mmin, and -print0 are extensions to that
specification. The -iname primary was inspired by GNU find.
Historically, the -d, -H, and -x options were implemented using the
primaries -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
preceding or following non-whitespace characters. This version replaces
it no matter where in the utility name or arguments it appears.
HISTORY
A find command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
CAVEATS
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 file names may contain whitespace and shell metacharacters, passing
the output of find to other programs requires some care:
$ find . -name \*.jpg | xargs rm
or
$ rm `find . -name \*.jpg`
would, given files ``important .jpg'' and ``important'', remove
``important''. Use the -print0 or -exec primaries instead.
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.
OpenBSD 4.9 February 13, 2011 OpenBSD 4.9
