linux - find (1)



NAME
       find - search for files in a directory hierarchy


SYNOPSIS
       find [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
       -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

       -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
              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:
                      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)
                             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

              %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 ALSO
       locate(1L),  locatedb(5L), updatedb(1L), xargs(1L) Finding
       Files (on-line in Info, or printed)