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.\" @(#)find.1 6.29 (Berkeley) 7/29/91
.Nd walk a file hierarchy
recursively descends the directory tree for each
(composed of the ``primaries'' and ``operands'' listed below) in terms
of each file in the tree.
is a symbolic link referencing an existing file, the directory tree
referenced by the link is descended instead of the link itself.
The options are as follows:
to perform a depth\-first traversal, i.e. directories
are visited in post\-order and all entries in a directory will be acted
on before the directory itself.
visits directories in pre\-order, i.e. before their contents.
a breadth\-first traversal.
option specifies a file hierarchy for
File hierarchies may also be specified as the operands immediately
option causes the file information and file type (see
returned for each symbolic link to be those of the file referenced by the
link, not the link itself.
If the referenced file does not exist, the file information and type will
option is a modification to permit
to be safely used in conjunction with
If a file name contains any of the delimiting characters used by
a diagnostic message is displayed on standard error, and the file
The delimiting characters include single (`` ' '') and double (`` " '')
quotes, backslash (``\e''), space, tab and newline characters.
from descending into directories that have a device number different
than that of the file from which the descent began.
True if the difference between the file last access time and the time
was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is
True if the difference between the time of last change of file status
was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is
.It Ic -exec Ar utility Op argument ... ;
True if the program named
returns a zero value as its exit status.
Optional arguments may be passed to the utility.
The expression must be terminated by a semicolon (``;'').
If the string ``{}'' appears anywhere in the utility name or the
arguments it is replaced by the pathname of the current file.
will be executed from the directory from which
True if the file is contained in a file system of type
Currently supported types are ``local'', ``mfs'', ``nfs'', ``msdos'', ``isofs'',
The types ``local'' and ``rdonly'' are not specific file system types.
The former matches any file system physically mounted on the system where
is being executed and the latter matches any file system which is
True if the file belongs to the group
is numeric and there is no such group name, then
is treated as a group id.
True if the file has inode number
This primary always evaluates to true.
The following information for the current file is written to standard output:
its inode number, size in 512\-byte blocks, file permissions, number of hard
links, owner, group, size in bytes, last modification time, and pathname.
If the file is a block or character special file, the major and minor numbers
will be displayed instead of the size in bytes.
If the file is a symbolic link, the pathname of the linked\-to file will be
displayed preceded by ``\->''.
The format is identical to that produced by ``ls \-dgils''.
True if the difference between the file last modification time and the time
was started, rounded up to the next full 24\-hour period, is
.It Ic \&-ok Ar utility Ns Op argument ... ;
primary is identical to the
primary with the exception that
requests user affirmation for the execution of the utility by printing
a message to the terminal and reading a response.
If the response is other than ``y'' the command is not executed and the
True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches
Special shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'', ``*'', and ``?'')
These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a
True if the current file has a more recent last modification time than
True if the file belongs to an unknown user.
True if the file belongs to an unknown group.
True if the pathname being examined matches
Special shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'', ``*'', and ``?'')
These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a
Slashes (``/'') are treated as normal characters and do not have to be
.It Ic -perm Op Fl Ns Ar mode
may be either symbolic (see
If the mode is symbolic, a starting value of zero is assumed and the
mode sets or clears permissions without regard to the process' file mode
If the mode is octal, only bits 07777
of the file's mode bits participate
If the mode is preceded by a dash (``\-''), this primary evaluates to true
if at least all of the bits in the mode are set in the file's mode bits.
If the mode is not preceded by a dash, this primary evaluates to true if
the bits in the mode exactly match the file's mode bits.
Note, the first character of a symbolic mode may not be a dash (``\-'').
This primary always evaluates to true.
It prints the pathname of the current file to standard output.
The expression is appended to the user specified expression if neither
This primary always evaluates to true.
to not descend into the current file.
primary has no effect if the
.It Ic -size Ar n Ns Op Cm c
True if the file's size, rounded up, in 512\-byte blocks is
is followed by a ``c'', then the primary is true if the
True if the file is of the specified type.
Possible file types are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width flag -offset indent -compact
True if the file belongs to the user
is numeric and there is no such user name, then
All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to be
preceded by a plus sign (``+'') or a minus sign (``\-'').
A preceding plus sign means ``more than n'', a preceding minus sign means
``less than n'' and neither means ``exactly n'' .
The primaries may be combined using the following operators.
The operators are listed in order of decreasing precedence.
.Bl -tag -width (expression)
.It Cm \&( Ns Ar expression Ns Cm \&)
This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression evaluates to
.It Cm \&! Ns Ar expression
It evaluates to true if the expression is false.
.It Ar expression Cm -and Ar expression
.It Ar expression expression
As it is implied by the juxtaposition of two expressions it does not
The expression evaluates to true if both expressions are true.
The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is false.
.It Ar expression Cm -or Ar expression
The expression evaluates to true if either the first or the second expression
The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is true.
All operands and primaries must be separate arguments to
Primaries which themselves take arguments expect each argument
to be a separate argument to
The following examples are shown as given to the shell:
.It Li "find / \e! -name \*q*.c\*q -print"
Print out a list of all the files whose names do not end in ``.c''.
.It Li "find / -newer ttt -user wnj -print"
Print out a list of all the files owned by user ``wnj'' that are newer
.It Li "find / \e! \e( -newer ttt -user wnj \e) -print"
Print out a list of all the files which are not both newer than ``ttt''
.It Li "find / \e( -newer ttt -or -user wnj \e) -print"
Print out a list of all the files that are either owned by ``wnj'' or
that are newer than ``ttt''.
utility syntax is a superset of the syntax specified by the
primaries are extensions to
options were implemented using the primaries ``\-depth'', ``\-follow'',
These primaries always evaluated to true.
As they were really global variables that took effect before the traversal
began, some legal expressions could have unexpected results.
An example is the expression ``\-print \-o \-depth''.
As \-print always evaluates to true, the standard order of evaluation
implies that \-depth would never be evaluated.
The operator ``-or'' was implemented as ``\-o'', and the operator ``-and''
was implemented as ``\-a''.
Historic implementations of the
primaries did not replace the string ``{}'' in the utility name or the
utility arguments if it had preceding or following non-whitespace characters.
This version replaces it no matter where in the utility name or arguments
The special characters used by
are also special characters to many shell programs.
In particular, the characters ``*'', ``['', ``]'', ``?'', ``('', ``)'',
``!'', ``\e'' and ``;'' may have to be escaped from the shell.
As there is no delimiter separating options and file names or file
it is difficult to specify files named ``-xdev'' or ``!''.
These problems are handled by the