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1 | .\" Copyright (c) 1990 The Regents of the University of California. |
2 | .\" All rights reserved. | |
3559318a | 3 | .\" |
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4 | .\" %sccs.include.redist.man% |
5 | .\" | |
dd9e2e8d | 6 | .\" @(#)find.1 6.14 (Berkeley) %G% |
910ee6b3 | 7 | .\" |
b5dc1377 CL |
8 | .Dd |
9 | .Dt FIND 1 | |
dd9e2e8d | 10 | .Os BSD 4.4 |
b5dc1377 CL |
11 | .Sh NAME |
12 | .Nm find | |
13 | .Nd walk a file hierarchy | |
14 | .Sh SYNOPSIS | |
15 | .Nm find | |
16 | .Op Fl dsx | |
17 | .Op Ar path | |
18 | .Ar expression | |
19 | .Nm find | |
20 | .Op Fl dsx | |
21 | .Op Fl f Ar path | |
22 | .Ar expression | |
23 | .Sh DESCRIPTION | |
24 | .Nm Find | |
45fc66f9 | 25 | recursively descends the directory tree for each |
b5dc1377 | 26 | .Ar path |
ae3aaa1b | 27 | listed, evaluating an |
b5dc1377 | 28 | .Ar expression |
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29 | (composed of the ``primaries'' and ``operands'' listed below) in terms |
30 | of each file in the tree. | |
b5dc1377 | 31 | .Pp |
202dd4ce | 32 | The options are as follows: |
b5dc1377 CL |
33 | .Pp |
34 | .Tw Ds | |
35 | .Tp Fl d | |
202dd4ce | 36 | The |
b5dc1377 | 37 | .Fl d |
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38 | option causes find to perform a depth\-first traversal, i.e. directories |
39 | are visited in post\-order and all entries in a directory will be acted | |
40 | on before the directory itself. | |
41 | By default, | |
b5dc1377 | 42 | .Nm find |
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43 | visits directories in pre\-order, i.e. before their contents. |
44 | Note, the default is | |
b5dc1377 | 45 | .Ar not |
202dd4ce | 46 | a breadth\-first traversal. |
b5dc1377 | 47 | .Tp Fl f |
202dd4ce | 48 | The |
b5dc1377 | 49 | .Fl f |
202dd4ce | 50 | option specifies a file hierarchy for |
b5dc1377 | 51 | .Nm find |
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52 | to traverse. |
53 | If no | |
b5dc1377 | 54 | .Fl f |
202dd4ce | 55 | option is specified, the first operand after the options is |
ae3aaa1b | 56 | expected to be the file hierarchy to be traversed. |
b5dc1377 | 57 | .Tp Fl s |
202dd4ce | 58 | The |
b5dc1377 | 59 | .Fl s |
202dd4ce | 60 | option causes the file information and file type (see |
b5dc1377 | 61 | .Xr stat 2 ) , |
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62 | returned for each symbolic link to be those of the file referenced by the |
63 | link, not the link itself. | |
64 | If the referenced file does not exist, the file information and type will | |
65 | be for the link itself. | |
b5dc1377 | 66 | .Tp Fl x |
202dd4ce | 67 | The |
b5dc1377 | 68 | .Fl x |
ae3aaa1b | 69 | option prevents |
b5dc1377 | 70 | .Nm find |
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71 | from descending into directories that have a device number different |
72 | than that of the file from which the descent began. | |
b5dc1377 CL |
73 | .Tp |
74 | .Sh PRIMARIES | |
75 | .Tw Ds | |
76 | .Tp Cx Ic atime | |
77 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
78 | .Ar n | |
79 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 80 | True if the difference between the file last access time and the time |
b5dc1377 | 81 | .Nm find |
45fc66f9 | 82 | was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is |
b5dc1377 | 83 | .Ar n |
45fc66f9 | 84 | 24\-hour periods. |
b5dc1377 CL |
85 | .Tp Cx Ic ctime |
86 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
87 | .Ar n | |
88 | .Cx | |
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89 | True if the difference between the time of last change of file status |
90 | information and the time | |
b5dc1377 | 91 | .Nm find |
45fc66f9 | 92 | was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is |
b5dc1377 | 93 | .Ar n |
45fc66f9 | 94 | 24\-hour periods. |
b5dc1377 CL |
95 | .Tp Cx Ic exec |
96 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
97 | .Ar utility | |
98 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
99 | .Op argument ... ; | |
100 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 101 | True if the program named |
b5dc1377 | 102 | .Ar utility |
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103 | returns a zero value as its exit status. |
104 | Optional arguments may be passed to the utility. | |
105 | The expression must be terminated by a semicolon (``;''). | |
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106 | If the string ``{}'' appears anywhere in the utility name or the |
107 | arguments it is replaced by the pathname of the current file. | |
45fc66f9 | 108 | Utility will be executed in the directory from which |
b5dc1377 | 109 | .Nm find |
45fc66f9 | 110 | was executed. |
b5dc1377 CL |
111 | .Tp Cx Ic fstype |
112 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
113 | .Ar type | |
114 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 115 | True if the file is contained in a file system of type |
b5dc1377 | 116 | .Ar type . |
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117 | Currently supported types are ``local'', ``mfs'', ``nfs'', ``pc'' and |
118 | ``ufs''. | |
119 | The type ``local'' is not a specific file system type, but matches | |
120 | any file system physically mounted on the system where the | |
b5dc1377 | 121 | .Nm find |
af67ecdf | 122 | is being executed. |
b5dc1377 CL |
123 | .Tp Cx Ic group |
124 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
125 | .Ar gname | |
126 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 127 | True if the file belongs to the group |
b5dc1377 | 128 | .Ar gname . |
910ee6b3 | 129 | If |
b5dc1377 | 130 | .Ar gname |
45fc66f9 | 131 | is numeric and there is no such group name, then |
b5dc1377 | 132 | .Ar gname |
45fc66f9 | 133 | is treated as a group id. |
b5dc1377 CL |
134 | .Tp Cx Ic inum |
135 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
136 | .Ar n | |
137 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 138 | True if the file has inode number |
b5dc1377 CL |
139 | .Ar n . |
140 | .Tp Cx Ic links | |
141 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
142 | .Ar n | |
143 | .Cx | |
910ee6b3 | 144 | True if the file has |
b5dc1377 | 145 | .Ar n |
910ee6b3 | 146 | links. |
b5dc1377 | 147 | .Tp Ic ls |
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148 | This primary always evaluates to true. |
149 | The following information for the current file is written to standard output: | |
150 | its inode number, size in 512\-byte blocks, file permissions, number of hard | |
151 | links, owner, group, size in bytes, last modification time, and pathname. | |
152 | If the file is a block or character special file, the major and minor numbers | |
153 | will be displayed instead of the size in bytes. | |
154 | If the file is a symbolic link, the pathname of the linked\-to file will be | |
155 | displayed preceded by ``\->''. | |
156 | The format is identical to that produced by ``ls \-dgils''. | |
b5dc1377 CL |
157 | .Tp Cx Ic mtime |
158 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
159 | .Ar n | |
160 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 161 | True if the difference between the file last modification time and the time |
b5dc1377 | 162 | .Nm find |
45fc66f9 | 163 | was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is |
b5dc1377 | 164 | .Ar n |
45fc66f9 | 165 | 24\-hour periods. |
b5dc1377 CL |
166 | .Tp Cx Ic ok |
167 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
168 | .Ar utility | |
169 | .Op argument ... ; | |
45fc66f9 | 170 | The |
b5dc1377 | 171 | .Ic ok |
45fc66f9 | 172 | primary is identical to the |
b5dc1377 | 173 | .Ic exec |
45fc66f9 | 174 | primary with the exception that |
b5dc1377 | 175 | .Nm find |
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176 | requests user affirmation for the execution of the utility by printing |
177 | a message to the terminal and reading a response. | |
178 | If the response is other than ``y'' the command is not executed and the | |
179 | value of the | |
b5dc1377 | 180 | .Ar ok |
45fc66f9 | 181 | expression is false. |
b5dc1377 CL |
182 | .Tp Cx Ic name |
183 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
184 | .Ar pattern | |
185 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 186 | True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches |
b5dc1377 | 187 | .Ar pattern . |
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188 | Special shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'', ``*'', and ``?'') |
189 | may be used as part of | |
b5dc1377 | 190 | .Ar pattern . |
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191 | These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a |
192 | backslash (``\e''). | |
b5dc1377 CL |
193 | .Tp Cx Ic newer |
194 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
195 | .Ar file | |
196 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 197 | True if the current file has a more recent last modification time than |
b5dc1377 CL |
198 | .Ar file . |
199 | .Tp Ic nouser | |
45fc66f9 | 200 | True if the file belongs to an unknown user. |
b5dc1377 | 201 | .Tp Ic nogroup |
45fc66f9 | 202 | True if the file belongs to an unknown group. |
b5dc1377 CL |
203 | .Tp Cx Ic perm |
204 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
205 | .Op Fl | |
206 | .Ar mode | |
207 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 208 | The |
b5dc1377 | 209 | .Ar mode |
45fc66f9 | 210 | may be either symbolic (see |
b5dc1377 | 211 | .Xr chmod 1 ) |
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212 | or an octal number. |
213 | If the mode is symbolic, a starting value of zero is assumed and the | |
214 | mode sets or clears permissions without regard to the process' file mode | |
215 | creation mask. | |
216 | If the mode is octal, only bits 07777 of the file's mode bits participate | |
217 | in the comparison. | |
218 | If the mode is preceded by a dash (``\-''), this primary evaluates to true | |
219 | if at least all of the bits in the mode are set in the file's mode bits. | |
220 | If the mode is not preceded by a dash, this primary evaluates to true if | |
221 | the bits in the mode exactly match the file's mode bits. | |
222 | Note, the first character of a symbolic mode may not be a dash (``\-''). | |
b5dc1377 | 223 | .Tp Ic print |
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224 | This primary always evaluates to true. |
225 | It prints the pathname of the current file to standard output. | |
226 | The expression is appended to the user specified expression if neither | |
b5dc1377 CL |
227 | .Ic exec , |
228 | .Ic ls , | |
45fc66f9 | 229 | or |
b5dc1377 | 230 | .Ic ok |
45fc66f9 | 231 | is specified. |
b5dc1377 | 232 | .Tp Ic prune |
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233 | This primary always evaluates to true. |
234 | It causes | |
b5dc1377 | 235 | .Nm find |
45fc66f9 | 236 | to not descend into the current file. |
b5dc1377 CL |
237 | .Tp Cx Ic size |
238 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
239 | .Ar n | |
240 | .Op Cm c | |
241 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 242 | True if the file's size, rounded up, in 512\-byte blocks is |
b5dc1377 CL |
243 | .Ar n . |
244 | If | |
245 | .Ar n | |
45fc66f9 | 246 | is followed by a ``c'', then the primary is true if the |
b5dc1377 CL |
247 | file's size is |
248 | .Ar n | |
45fc66f9 | 249 | bytes. |
b5dc1377 CL |
250 | .Tp Cx Ic type |
251 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
252 | .Ar t | |
253 | .Cx | |
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254 | True if the file is of the specified type. |
255 | Possible file types are as follows: | |
b5dc1377 CL |
256 | .Pp |
257 | .Tw Ds | |
258 | .Tp Cm b | |
45fc66f9 | 259 | block special |
b5dc1377 | 260 | .Tp Cm c |
45fc66f9 | 261 | character special |
b5dc1377 | 262 | .Tp Cm d |
45fc66f9 | 263 | directory |
b5dc1377 | 264 | .Tp Cm f |
45fc66f9 | 265 | regular file |
b5dc1377 | 266 | .Tp Cm l |
45fc66f9 | 267 | symbolic link |
b5dc1377 | 268 | .Tp Cm p |
45fc66f9 | 269 | FIFO |
b5dc1377 | 270 | .Tp Cm s |
45fc66f9 | 271 | socket |
b5dc1377 CL |
272 | .Tp |
273 | .Pp | |
274 | .Tp Cx Ic user | |
275 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
276 | .Ar uname | |
277 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 278 | True if the file belongs to the user |
b5dc1377 | 279 | .Ar uname . |
45fc66f9 | 280 | If |
b5dc1377 | 281 | .Ar uname |
45fc66f9 | 282 | is numeric and there is no such user name, then |
b5dc1377 | 283 | .Ar uname |
45fc66f9 | 284 | is treated as a user id. |
b5dc1377 CL |
285 | .Tp |
286 | .Pp | |
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287 | All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to be |
288 | preceded by a plus sign (``+'') or a minus sign (``\-''). | |
289 | A preceding plus sign means ``more than | |
b5dc1377 | 290 | .Ar n ' ' , |
ae3aaa1b | 291 | a preceding minus sign means ``less than |
b5dc1377 | 292 | .Ar n ' ' |
ae3aaa1b | 293 | and neither means ``exactly |
b5dc1377 CL |
294 | .Ar n ' ' . |
295 | .Sh OPERATORS | |
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296 | The primaries may be combined using the following operators. |
297 | The operators are listed in order of decreasing precedence. | |
b5dc1377 CL |
298 | .Di L |
299 | .Dp Cx Ic \&( | |
300 | .Ar expression | |
301 | .Cx \&) | |
302 | .Cx | |
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303 | This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression evaluates to |
304 | true. | |
b5dc1377 CL |
305 | .Pp |
306 | .Dp Cx Ic \&! | |
307 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
308 | .Ar expression | |
309 | .Cx | |
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310 | This is the unary NOT operator. |
311 | It evaluates to true if the expression is false. | |
b5dc1377 CL |
312 | .Pp |
313 | .Dp Cx Ar expression | |
314 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
315 | .Ic and | |
316 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
317 | .Ar expression | |
318 | .Cx | |
319 | .Dp Cx Ar expression expression | |
320 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 321 | The |
b5dc1377 | 322 | .Ic and |
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323 | operator is the logical AND operator. |
324 | As it is implied by the juxtaposition of two expressions it does not | |
325 | have to be specified. | |
326 | The expression evaluates to true if both expressions are true. | |
327 | The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is false. | |
b5dc1377 CL |
328 | .Pp |
329 | .Dp Cx Ar expression | |
330 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
331 | .Ic or | |
332 | .Cx \&\ \& | |
333 | .Ar expression | |
334 | .Cx | |
45fc66f9 | 335 | The |
b5dc1377 | 336 | .Ic or |
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337 | operator is the logical OR operator. |
338 | The expression evaluates to true if either the first or the second expression | |
339 | is true. | |
340 | The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is true. | |
b5dc1377 CL |
341 | .Dp |
342 | .Pp | |
ae3aaa1b | 343 | All operands and primaries must be separate arguments to |
b5dc1377 | 344 | .Nm find . |
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345 | Primaries which themselves take arguments expect each argument |
346 | to be a separate argument to | |
b5dc1377 CL |
347 | .Nm find . |
348 | .Sh EXAMPLES | |
349 | .Pp | |
45fc66f9 | 350 | The following examples are shown as given to the shell: |
b5dc1377 CL |
351 | .Tw findx |
352 | .Tp Li find / \e! name "*.c" print | |
45fc66f9 | 353 | Print out a list of all the files whose names do not end in ``.c''. |
b5dc1377 | 354 | .Tp Li find / newer ttt user wnj print |
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355 | Print out a list of all the files owned by user ``wnj'' that are newer |
356 | than the file ``ttt''. | |
b5dc1377 | 357 | .Tp Li find / \e! \e( newer ttt user wnj \e) print |
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358 | Print out a list of all the files which are not both newer than ``ttt'' |
359 | and owned by ``wnj''. | |
b5dc1377 | 360 | .Tp Li find / \e( newer ttt or user wnj \e) print |
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361 | Print out a list of all the files that are either owned by ``wnj'' or |
362 | that are newer than ``ttt''. | |
b5dc1377 CL |
363 | .Tp |
364 | .Sh SEE ALSO | |
365 | .Xr chmod 1 , | |
366 | .Xr sh 1 , | |
367 | .Xr test 1 , | |
368 | .Xr stat 2 , | |
369 | .Xr umask 2 , | |
370 | .Xr getpwent 3 , | |
371 | .Xr getgrent 3 , | |
372 | .Xr strmode 3 | |
373 | .Sh STANDARDS | |
45fc66f9 | 374 | The |
b5dc1377 | 375 | .Nm find |
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376 | utility syntax is a replacement for the syntax specified by the POSIX |
377 | 1003.2 standard. | |
378 | The standard syntax is also supported; see the COMPATIBILITY section | |
379 | below for details. | |
b5dc1377 | 380 | .Pp |
202dd4ce | 381 | The |
b5dc1377 | 382 | .Fl s |
202dd4ce | 383 | option as well as the primaries |
b5dc1377 | 384 | .Ic inum |
45fc66f9 | 385 | and |
b5dc1377 | 386 | .Ic ls |
202dd4ce | 387 | are extensions to the POSIX standard. |
b5dc1377 | 388 | .Sh COMPATIBILITY |
202dd4ce | 389 | The traditional, and standardized, syntax for |
b5dc1377 | 390 | .Nm find |
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391 | is as follows. |
392 | All of the primaries are preceded by a dash (``\-''), i.e. the | |
393 | primary ``group'' is specified as ``\-group''. | |
394 | The | |
b5dc1377 CL |
395 | .Fl d , |
396 | .Fl s , | |
202dd4ce | 397 | and |
b5dc1377 | 398 | .Fl x |
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399 | options are implemented using the primaries ``\-depth'', ``\-follow'', |
400 | and ``\-xdev''. | |
401 | These primaries always evaluate to true. | |
402 | The operator ``or'' is implemented as ``\-o'', and the operator | |
403 | ``and'' is implemented as ``\-a''. | |
404 | The set of file trees to be traversed are specified as the first operands | |
405 | to | |
b5dc1377 | 406 | .Nm find . |
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407 | The first operand beginning with a dash (``\-''), exclamation point (``!'') |
408 | or left parenthesis (``('') is assumed to be the beginning of the expression | |
409 | and the end of the files to be traversed. | |
b5dc1377 | 410 | .Pp |
202dd4ce | 411 | The |
b5dc1377 | 412 | .Nm find |
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413 | syntax was changed for two reasons. |
414 | The first is that the ``\-depth'', ``\-follow'' and ``\-xdev'' primaries | |
415 | are really global variables that take effect before the traversal begins. | |
416 | This causes some legal expressions to have unexpected results. | |
417 | An example is the expression ``\-print \-o \-depth''. | |
418 | As \-print always evaluates to true, the standard order of evaluation | |
419 | implies that \-depth would never be evaluated. | |
420 | This is not the case. | |
b5dc1377 | 421 | .Pp |
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422 | The second reason is that traversing file trees with names beginning with |
423 | a dash, exclamation point or left parenthesis was impossible. | |
b5dc1377 | 424 | .Sh BUGS |
202dd4ce | 425 | The special characters used by |
b5dc1377 | 426 | .Nm find |
202dd4ce | 427 | are also special characters to many shell programs. |
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428 | In particular, the characters ``*'', ``['', ``]'', ``?'', ``('', ``)'', |
429 | ``!'', ``\e'' and ``;'' may have to be escaped from the shell. |