FIND(1L) UNIX Programmer's Manual FIND(1L)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 success-
fully, 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 directory
itself.
-follow
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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 arguments.
`-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 contain 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 filesystems or AFS volume mount points.
Each directory on a normal Unix filesystem has at least
2 hard links: its name and its `.' entry. Addition-
ally, its subdirectories (if any) each have a `..'
entry linked to that directory. When find is examining
a directory, after it has statted 2 fewer subdirec-
tories 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,
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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 -fol-
low 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 direc-
tory.
-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
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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 pat-
tern 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 metachar-
acters do not treat `/' or `.' specially; so, for exam-
ple,
find . -path './sr*sc'
will print an entry for a directory called './src/misc'
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(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 sym-
bolic). Symbolic modes use mode 0 as a point of depar-
ture.
-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 regu-
lar 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
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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 arguments
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 executed in the starting direc-
tory.
-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 created; if it
does exist, it is truncated. The file names
``/dev/stdout'' and ``/dev/stderr'' are handled spe-
cially; 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
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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 output,
followed by a newline.
-print0
True; print the full file name on the standard output,
followed by a null character. This allows file names
that contain newlines to be correctly interpreted by
programs that process the find output.
-printf format
True; print format on the standard output, interpreting
`\' escapes and `%' directives. Field widths and pre-
cisions can be specified as with the `printf' C func-
tion. 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 specified by
k, which is either `@' or a directive for the C
`strftime' function. The possible values for k
are listed below; some of them might not be
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available on all systems, 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)
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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).
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%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 speci-
fied 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 dis-
carded (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 stan-
dard 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.
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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)
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