.TH FIND 1 .SH NAME find \- search for files in a directory hierarchy .SH SYNOPSIS .B find [path...] [expression] .SH DESCRIPTION This manual page documents the GNU version of .BR find . .B find searches the directory tree rooted at each given pathname by evaluating the given expression from left to right, according to the rules of precedence (see section OPERATORS), until the outcome is known (the left hand side is false for \fIand\fR operations, true for \fIor\fR), at which point .B find moves on to the next pathname. .PP 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. .PP .B find exits with status 0 if all files are processed successfully, greater than 0 if errors occur. .SH EXPRESSIONS .LP 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. .SS OPTIONS .LP All options always return true. .IP \-daystart Measure times (for \-amin, \-atime, \-cmin, \-ctime, \-mmin, and \-mtime) from the beginning of today rather than from 24 hours ago. .IP \-depth Process each directory's contents before the directory itself. .IP \-follow Dereference symbolic links. Implies \-noleaf. .IP "\-maxdepth \fIlevels\fR" Descend at most \fIlevels\fR (a non-negative integer) levels of directories below the command line arguments. `\-maxdepth 0' means only apply the tests and actions to the command line arguments. .IP "\-mindepth \fIlevels\fR" Do not apply any tests or actions at levels less than \fIlevels\fR (a non-negative integer). `\-mindepth 1' means process all files except the command line arguments. .IP "\-noleaf" Do not optimize by assuming that directories contain 2 fewer subdirectories than their hard link count. 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 .B find is examining a directory, after it has statted 2 fewer subdirectories 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. However, this option might be needed when searching NFS-mounted non-Unix file systems, if they do not follow the directory-link convention described above. .IP \-version Print \fBfind\fR version number on standard error. .IP \-xdev Don't descend directories on other filesystems. .SS TESTS .LP Numeric arguments can be specified as .IP \fI+n\fP for greater than .IR n , .IP \fI\-n\fP for less than .IR n , .IP \fIn\fP for exactly .IR n . .IP "\-amin \fIn\fR" File was last accessed \fIn\fR minutes ago. .IP "\-anewer \fIfile\fR" File was last accessed more recently than \fIfile\fR was modified. \-anewer is affected by \-follow only if \-follow comes before \-anewer on the command line. .IP "\-atime \fIn\fR" File was last accessed \fIn\fR*24 hours ago. .IP "\-cmin \fIn\fR" File's status was last changed \fIn\fR minutes ago. .IP "\-cnewer \fIfile\fR" File's status was last changed more recently than \fIfile\fR was modified. \-cnewer is affected by \-follow only if \-follow comes before \-cnewer on the command line. .IP "\-ctime \fIn\fR" File's status was last changed \fIn\fR*24 hours ago. .IP \-empty File is empty and is either a regular file or a directory. .IP \-false Always false. .IP "\-fstype \fItype\fR" File is on a filesystem of type \fItype\fR. 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. .IP "\-gid \fIn\fR" File's numeric group ID is \fIn\fR. .IP "\-group \fIgname\fR" File belongs to group \fIgname\fR (numeric group ID allowed). .IP "\-inum \fIn\fR" File has inode number \fIn\fR. .IP "\-links \fIn\fR" File has \fIn\fR links. .IP "\-lname \fIpattern\fR" File is a symbolic link whose contents match shell pattern \fIpattern\fR. The metacharacters do not treat `/' or `.' specially. .IP "\-mmin \fIn\fR" File's data was last modified \fIn\fR minutes ago. .IP "\-mtime \fIn\fR" File's data was last modified \fIn\fR*24 hours ago. .IP "\-name \fIpattern\fR" Base of path name (the path with the leading directories removed) matches shell pattern \fIpattern\fR. The metacharacters (`*', `?', and `[]') do not match a `.' at the start of the base name. .IP "\-newer \fIfile\fR" File was modified more recently than \fIfile\fR. \-newer is affected by \-follow only if \-follow comes before \-newer on the command line. .IP \-nouser No user corresponds to file's numeric user ID. .IP \-nogroup No group corresponds to file's numeric group ID. .IP "\-path \fIpattern\fR" Path name matches shell pattern \fIpattern\fR. The metacharacters do not treat `/' or `.' specially. .IP "\-perm \fImode\fR" File's permission bits are exactly \fImode\fR (octal or symbolic). Symbolic modes use mode 0 as a point of departure. .IP "\-perm \-\fImode\fR" All of the permission bits \fImode\fR are set for the file. .IP "\-perm +\fImode\fR" Any of the permission bits \fImode\fR are set for the file. .IP "\-regex \fIpattern\fR" Pathname matches regular expression \fIpattern\fR. .IP "\-size \fIn\fR[ck]" File uses \fIn\fP 512-byte blocks (bytes if `c' follows \fIn\fP, kilobytes if `k' follows \fIn\fP). The size does not count indirect blocks, and does count blocks in sparse files that are not actually allocated. .IP \-true Always true. .IP "\-type \fIc\fR" File is of type \fIc\fR: .RS .IP b block (buffered) special .IP c character (unbuffered) special .IP d directory .IP p named pipe (FIFO) .IP f regular file .IP l symbolic link .IP s socket .RE .IP "\-uid \fIn\fR" File's numeric user ID is \fIn\fR. .IP "\-used \fIn\fR" File was last accessed \fIn\fR days after its status was last changed. .IP "\-user \fIuname\fR" File is owned by user \fIuname\fR (numeric user ID allowed). .IP "\-xtype \fIc\fR" 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 \fIc\fR; if \-follow has been given, true if \fIc\fR is `l'. For symbolic links, \-xtype checks the type of the file that \-type does not check. .SS ACTIONS .IP "\-exec \fIcommand\fR ;" Execute \fIcommand\fR; true if 0 status is returned. All following arguments to .B find are taken to be arguments to the command until an argument consisting of `;' is encountered. The string `{}' is replaced by the current pathname being processed everywhere it occurs in the arguments to the command, not just in arguments where it is alone, as in some versions of .BR find . Both of these constructions might need to be escaped (with a `\e') or quoted to protect them from expansion by the shell. .IP "\-fprint \fIfile\fR" True; print the full pathname into file \fIfile\fR. If \fIfile\fR does not exist when \fBfind\fR is run, it is created; if it does exist, it is truncated. The filenames ``/dev/stdout'' and ``/dev/stderr'' are handled specially; they refer to the standard output and standard error output, respectively. .IP "\-fprint0 \fIfile\fR" True; like \-print0 but write to \fIfile\fR like \-fprint. .IP "\-fprintf \fIfile\fR \fIformat\fR" True; like \-printf but write to \fIfile\fR like \-fprint. .IP "\-ok \fIcommand\fR ;" 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. .IP \-print True; print the full pathname on the standard output, followed by a newline. .IP \-print0 True; print the full pathname on the standard output, followed by a null character. This allows filenames that contain newlines to be correctly interpreted by programs that process the \fBfind\fR output. .IP "\-printf \fIformat\fR" True; print \fIformat\fR on the standard output, interpreting `\e' 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: .RS .IP \ea Alarm bell. .IP \eb Backspace. .IP \ec Stop printing from this format immediately. .IP \ef Form feed. .IP \en Newline. .IP \er Carriage return. .IP \et Horizontal tab. .IP \ev Vertical tab. .IP \e\e A literal backslash (`\e'). .PP A `\e' character followed by any other character is treated as an ordinary character, so they both are printed. .IP %% A literal percent sign. .IP %a File's last access time in the format returned by the C `ctime' function. .IP %A\fIk\fP File's last access time in the format specified by \fIk\fR, which is either `@' or a directive for the C `strftime' function. The possible values for \fIk\fR are listed below; some of them might not be available on all systems, due to differences in `strftime' between systems. .RS .IP @ seconds since Jan. 1, 1970, 00:00 GMT. .PP Time fields: .IP H hour (00..23) .IP I hour (01..12) .IP k hour ( 0..23) .IP l hour ( 1..12) .IP M minute (00..59) .IP p locale's AM or PM .IP r time, 12-hour (hh:mm:ss [AP]M) .IP S second (00..61) .IP T time, 24-hour (hh:mm:ss) .IP X locale's time representation (H:M:S) .IP Z time zone (e.g., EDT), or nothing if no time zone is determinable .PP Date fields: .IP a locale's abbreviated weekday name (Sun..Sat) .IP A locale's full weekday name, variable length (Sunday..Saturday) .IP b locale's abbreviated month name (Jan..Dec) .IP B locale's full month name, variable length (January..December) .IP c locale's date and time (Sat Nov 04 12:02:33 EST 1989) .IP d day of month (01..31) .IP D date (mm/dd/yy) .IP h same as b .IP j day of year (001..366) .IP m month (01..12) .IP U week number of year with Sunday as first day of week (00..53) .IP w day of week (0..6) .IP W week number of year with Monday as first day of week (00..53) .IP x locale's date representation (mm/dd/yy) .IP y last two digits of year (00..99) .IP Y year (1970...) .RE .IP %b File's size in 512-byte blocks (rounded up). .IP %c File's last status change time in the format returned by the C `ctime' function. .IP %C\fIk\fP File's last status change time in the format specified by \fIk\fR, which is the same as for %A. .IP %d File's depth in the directory tree; 0 means the file is a command line argument. .IP %f File's pathname with any leading directories removed. .IP %g File's group name, or numeric group ID if the group has no name. .IP %G File's numeric group ID. .IP %h Leading directories of file's pathname. .IP %H Command line argument under which file was found. .IP %i File's inode number (in decimal). .IP %k File's size in 1K blocks (rounded up). .IP %l Object of symbolic link (empty string if file is not a symbolic link). .IP %m File's permission bits (in octal). .IP %n Number of hard links to file. .IP %p File's pathname. .IP %P File's pathname with the name of the command line argument under which it was found removed. .IP %s File's size in bytes. .IP %t File's last modification time in the format returned by the C `ctime' function. .IP %T\fIk\fP File's last modification time in the format specified by \fIk\fR, which is the same as for %A. .IP %u File's user name, or numeric user ID if the user has no name. .IP %U File's numeric user ID. .PP A `%' character followed by any other character is discarded (but the other character is printed). .RE .IP \-prune If \-depth is not given, true; do not descend the current directory. .br If \-depth is given, false; no effect. .IP \-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. .SS OPERATORS .LP Listed in order of decreasing precedence: .IP "( \fIexpr\fR )" Force precedence. .IP "! \fIexpr\fR" True if \fIexpr\fR is false. .IP "\-not \fIexpr\fR" Same as ! \fIexpr\fR. .IP "\fIexpr1 expr2\fR" And (implied); \fIexpr2\fR is not evaluated if \fIexpr1\fR is false. .IP "\fIexpr1\fR \-a \fIexpr2\fR" Same as \fIexpr1 expr2\fR. .IP "\fIexpr1\fR \-and \fIexpr2\fR" Same as \fIexpr1 expr2\fR. .IP "\fIexpr1\fR \-o \fIexpr2\fR" Or; \fIexpr2\fR is not evaluated if \fIexpr1\fR is true. .IP "\fIexpr1\fR \-or \fIexpr2\fR" Same as \fIexpr1\fR \-o \fIexpr2\fR. .IP "\fIexpr1\fR , \fIexpr2\fR" List; both \fIexpr1\fR and \fIexpr2\fR are always evaluated. The value of \fIexpr1\fR is discarded; the value of the list is the value of \fIexpr2\fR.