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34 .\" @(#)find.1 8.7 (Berkeley) 5/9/95
42 .Nd walk a file hierarchy
45 .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
52 recursively descends the directory tree for each
56 (composed of the ``primaries'' and ``operands'' listed below) in terms
57 of each file in the tree.
59 The options are as follows:
65 option causes the file information and file type (see
67 returned for each symbolic link specified on the command line to be
68 those of the file referenced by the link, not the link itself.
69 If the referenced file does not exist, the file information and type will
70 be for the link itself.
71 File information of all symbolic links not on
72 the command line is that of the link itself.
76 option causes the file information and file type (see
78 returned for each symbolic link to be those of the file referenced by the
79 link, not the link itself.
80 If the referenced file does not exist, the file information and type will
81 be for the link itself.
85 option causes the file information and file type (see
87 returned for each symbolic link to be those of the link itself.
92 option is a modification to permit
94 to be safely used in conjunction with
96 If a file name contains any of the delimiting characters used by
98 a diagnostic message is displayed on standard error, and the file
100 The delimiting characters include single (`` ' '') and double (`` " '')
101 quotes, backslash (``\e''), space, tab and newline characters.
107 to perform a depth\-first traversal, i.e. directories
108 are visited in post\-order and all entries in a directory will be acted
109 on before the directory itself.
112 visits directories in pre\-order, i.e. before their contents.
115 a breadth\-first traversal.
119 option specifies a file hierarchy for
122 File hierarchies may also be specified as the operands immediately
123 following the options.
129 to traverse the file hierarchies in lexicographical order,
130 i.e., alphabetical order within each directory.
137 may give different results.
143 from descending into directories that have a device number different
144 than that of the file from which the descent began.
149 True if the difference between the file last access time and the time
151 was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is
155 True if the difference between the file last access time and the time
157 was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is
161 True if the difference between the time of last change of file status
162 information and the time
164 was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is
168 True if the difference between the time of last change of file status
169 information and the time
171 was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is
175 Delete found files and/or directories.
178 from the current working directory as
180 recurses down the tree.
181 It will not attempt to delete a filename with a ``/''
182 character in its pathname relative to "." for security reasons.
183 Depth\-first traversal processing is implied by this option.
184 .It Ic -exec Ar utility Op argument ... ;
185 True if the program named
187 returns a zero value as its exit status.
188 Optional arguments may be passed to the utility.
189 The expression must be terminated by a semicolon (``;'').
190 If the string ``{}'' appears anywhere in the utility name or the
191 arguments it is replaced by the pathname of the current file.
193 will be executed from the directory from which
196 .It Ic -execdir Ar utility Op argument ... ;
199 primary is identical to the
201 primary with the exception that
203 will be executed from the directory that holds
205 The filename substituted for
206 the string ``{}'' is not qualified.
207 .It Ic -fstype Ar type
208 True if the file is contained in a file system of type
212 command can be used to find out the types of filesystems
213 that are available on the system:
214 .Bd -literal -offset indent
217 In addition, there are two pseudo-types, ``local'' and ``rdonly''.
218 The former matches any file system physically mounted on the system where
221 is being executed and the latter matches any file system which is
223 .It Ic -group Ar gname
224 True if the file belongs to the group
228 is numeric and there is no such group name, then
230 is treated as a group id.
232 True if the file has inode number
239 This primary always evaluates to true.
240 The following information for the current file is written to standard output:
241 its inode number, size in 512\-byte blocks, file permissions, number of hard
242 links, owner, group, size in bytes, last modification time, and pathname.
243 If the file is a block or character special file, the major and minor numbers
244 will be displayed instead of the size in bytes.
245 If the file is a symbolic link, the pathname of the linked\-to file will be
246 displayed preceded by ``\->''.
247 The format is identical to that produced by ``ls \-dgils''.
248 .It Ic -maxdepth Ar n
249 True if the depth of the current file into the tree is less than or equal to
251 .It Ic -mindepth Ar n
252 True if the depth of the current file into the tree is greater than or equal to
255 True if the difference between the file last modification time and the time
257 was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is
261 True if the difference between the file last modification time and the time
263 was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is
266 .It Ic \&-ok Ar utility Op argument ... ;
269 primary is identical to the
271 primary with the exception that
273 requests user affirmation for the execution of the utility by printing
274 a message to the terminal and reading a response.
275 If the response is other than ``y'' the command is not executed and the
279 .It Ic -name Ar pattern
280 True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches
282 Special shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'', ``*'', and ``?'')
283 may be used as part of
285 These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a
287 .It Ic -newer Ar file
288 True if the current file has a more recent last modification time than
291 True if the file belongs to an unknown user.
293 True if the file belongs to an unknown group.
294 .It Ic -path Ar pattern
295 True if the pathname being examined matches
297 Special shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'', ``*'', and ``?'')
298 may be used as part of
300 These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a
302 Slashes (``/'') are treated as normal characters and do not have to be
311 may be either symbolic (see
314 If the mode is symbolic, a starting value of zero is assumed and the
315 mode sets or clears permissions without regard to the process' file mode
317 If the mode is octal, only bits 07777
329 of the file's mode bits participate
331 If the mode is preceded by a dash (``\-''), this primary evaluates to true
332 if at least all of the bits in the mode are set in the file's mode bits.
333 If the mode is preceded by a plus (``\+''), this primary evaluates to true
334 if any of the bits in the mode are set in the file's mode bits.
335 Otherwise, this primary evaluates to true if
336 the bits in the mode exactly match the file's mode bits.
337 Note, the first character of a symbolic mode may not be a dash (``\-'').
338 .It Ic -flags Op Fl Ns Ar flags
339 This primary evaluates to true if exactly those flags of the file are
340 set which are also set using the specified
342 (if these are not preceded by a dash (``\-''),
343 or if they match the specified flags (if these are preceded by a dash).
346 are specified using symbolic names (see
348 Note that this is different from
350 which only allows you to specify flags which are set.
352 This primary always evaluates to true.
353 It prints the pathname of the current file to standard output.
360 is specified, the given expression shall be effectively replaced by
361 .Cm \&( Ns Ar given\& expression Ns Cm \&)
364 This primary always evaluates to true.
365 It prints the pathname of the current file to standard output, followed by an
368 character (character code 0).
370 This primary always evaluates to true.
373 to not descend into the current file.
376 primary has no effect if the
378 option was specified.
379 .It Ic -size Ar n Ns Op Cm c
380 True if the file's size, rounded up, in 512\-byte blocks is
384 is followed by a ``c'', then the primary is true if the
389 True if the file is of the specified type.
390 Possible file types are as follows:
392 .Bl -tag -width flag -offset indent -compact
409 .It Ic -user Ar uname
410 True if the file belongs to the user
414 is numeric and there is no such user name, then
416 is treated as a user id.
419 All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to be
420 preceded by a plus sign (``+'') or a minus sign (``\-'').
421 A preceding plus sign means ``more than n'', a preceding minus sign means
422 ``less than n'' and neither means ``exactly n'' .
424 The primaries may be combined using the following operators.
425 The operators are listed in order of decreasing precedence.
426 .Bl -tag -width (expression)
427 .It Cm \&( Ar expression Cm \&)
428 This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression evaluates to
431 .It Cm \&! Ar expression
435 It evaluates to true if the expression is false.
437 .It Ar expression Cm -and Ar expression
438 .It Ar expression expression
441 operator is the logical
444 As it is implied by the juxtaposition of two expressions it does not
445 have to be specified.
446 The expression evaluates to true if both expressions are true.
447 The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is false.
449 .It Ar expression Cm -or Ar expression
452 operator is the logical
455 The expression evaluates to true if either the first or the second expression
457 The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is true.
460 All operands and primaries must be separate arguments to
462 Primaries which themselves take arguments expect each argument
463 to be a separate argument to
467 The following examples are shown as given to the shell:
468 .Bl -tag -width findx
469 .It Li "find / \e! -name \*q*.c\*q -print"
470 Print out a list of all the files whose names do not end in ``.c''.
471 .It Li "find / -newer ttt -user wnj -print"
472 Print out a list of all the files owned by user ``wnj'' that are newer
473 than the file ``ttt''.
474 .It Li "find / \e! \e( -newer ttt -user wnj \e) -print"
475 Print out a list of all the files which are not both newer than ``ttt''
476 and owned by ``wnj''.
477 .It Li "find / \e( -newer ttt -or -user wnj \e) -print"
478 Print out a list of all the files that are either owned by ``wnj'' or
479 that are newer than ``ttt''.
496 utility syntax is a superset of the syntax specified by the
500 All the single character options as well as the
506 primaries are extensions to
514 options were implemented using the primaries ``\-depth'', ``\-follow'',
516 These primaries always evaluated to true.
517 As they were really global variables that took effect before the traversal
518 began, some legal expressions could have unexpected results.
519 An example is the expression ``\-print \-o \-depth''.
520 As \-print always evaluates to true, the standard order of evaluation
521 implies that \-depth would never be evaluated.
522 This is not the case.
524 The operator ``-or'' was implemented as ``\-o'', and the operator ``-and''
525 was implemented as ``\-a''.
527 Historic implementations of the
531 primaries did not replace the string ``{}'' in the utility name or the
532 utility arguments if it had preceding or following non-whitespace characters.
533 This version replaces it no matter where in the utility name or arguments
536 The special characters used by
538 are also special characters to many shell programs.
539 In particular, the characters ``*'', ``['', ``]'', ``?'', ``('', ``)'',
540 ``!'', ``\e'' and ``;'' may have to be escaped from the shell.
542 As there is no delimiter separating options and file names or file
545 it is difficult to specify files named ``-xdev'' or ``!''.
546 These problems are handled by the
554 primary does not interact well with other options that cause the filesystem
555 tree traversal options to be changed.