find(1) CLIX find(1)
NAME
find - Finds files
SYNOPSIS
find pathname-list expression
DESCRIPTION
The command find recursively descends the directory hierarchy for each
pathname in the pathname-list (that is, one or more pathnames) seeking
files that match a boolean expression written in the primaries given
below. In the descriptions, the argument n is used as a decimal integer,
where +n means more than n, -n means less than n and n means exactly n.
Valid expressions are as follows:
-name file
True if file matches the current filename. Normal shell argument
syntax may be used if escaped (watch out for [, ?, and *).
[-perm] [-]onum
True if the file permission flags are identical to the octal number
onum (see chmod). If onum is prefixed by a minus sign, only the
bits set in onum are compared with the file permission flags and
the expression evaluates true if they match.
-type c
True if the type of the file is c, where c is b, c, d, l, p, or f
for block special file, character special file, directory, symbolic
link, fifo (also known as named pipe), or plain file respectively.
-links n
True if the file has n links.
-user uname
True if the file belongs to the user uname. If uname is numeric
and does not appear as a login name in the /etc/passwd file, it is
interpreted as a user ID.
-group gname
True if the file belongs to the group gname. If gname is numeric
and does not appear in the /etc/group file, it is interpreted as a
group ID.
-size n[c]
True if the file is n blocks long (512 bytes per block). If n is
followed by a c, the size is in characters.
-inum inode
Searches for a file by its inode number.
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find(1) CLIX find(1)
-atime n
True if the file has been accessed in n days. The access time of
directories in pathname-list is changed by find.
-mtime n
True if the file has been modified in n days.
-ctime n
True if the file's inode has been modified n days ago.
-exec cmd
True if the executed cmd returns a zero value as exit status. The
end of cmd must be punctuated by an escaped semicolon. A command
argument {} is replaced by the current pathname.
-ok cmd
Resembles -exec except that the generated command line is displayed
with a question mark first and is executed only if the user
responds by typing a ``y.''
-print Always true; displays the current pathname.
-cpio device
Always true; write the current file on device in cpio format
(5120-byte records).
-newer file
True if the current file was modified more recently than the
argument file.
-depth Always true; causes descent of the directory hierarchy to be done
so that all entries in a directory are acted on before the
directory itself. This can be useful when find is used with cpio
to transfer files contained in directories without write
permission.
-mount Always true; restricts the search to the file system containing the
directory specified. (or if no directory was specified, the
current directory.)
-local True if the file physically resides on the local system.
(expression)
True if the parenthesized expression is true. (Parentheses are
special to the shell and must be escaped.)
The primaries may be combined using the following operators (in the order
of decreasing precedence):
1. The negation of a primary (! is the unary not operator).
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find(1) CLIX find(1)
2. Concatenation of primaries (the and operation is implied by the
juxtaposition of two primaries).
3. Alternation of primaries (-o is the or operator).
EXAMPLES
1. To remove all files named a.out or *.o that have not been accessed for
a week:
find / \( -name a.out -o -name '*.o' \) -atime +7 -exec rm {} \;
FILES
/etc/passwd
/etc/group
NOTES
find / -depth always fails with the message:
find: stat failed: No such file or directory.
EXIT VALUES
The find command returns a nonzero value if it fails.
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: chmod(1), cpio(1), test(1), sh(1)
Functions: stat(2), umask(2)
Files: fs(4)
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