find -- Command

Search for files satisfying a pattern
find directory ... [expression ...]

find  traverses each  given directory,  testing  each file  or subdirectory
found with  the expression part of  the command line.  The  test can be the
basis for deciding whether to process the file with a given command.

If the  command line specifies  no expression or specifies  no execution or
printing (-print,  -exec, or -ok), by default find  prints the pathnames of
the files found.

In the  following, file means  any file: directory,  special file, ordinary
file, and so on.  Numbers represented  by n may be optionally prefixed by a
`+'  or  `-'  sign  to signify  values  greater  than  n  or less  than  n,
respectively.

find recognizes the following expression primitives:

-atime n
        Match if the file was accessed in the last n days.

-ctime n
        Match if the  i-node associated  with the file  was changed  in the
        last n days, as by chmod.

-exec command
        Match if command  executes successfully  (has a zero  exit status).
        The command consists of the following arguments to find, terminated
        by  a  semicolon  `;'  (escaped  to  get  past  the  shell).   find
        substitutes the current  pathname being tested for  any argument of
        the form `{}'.

-group name
        Match if the file is owned by group  name. If name is a number, the
        owner must have that group number.

-inum n
        Match if the file is associated with i-number n.

-links n
        Match if the number of links to the file is n.

-mtime n
        Match if the most recent modification to the file was n days ago.

-name pattern
        Match if the  file name corresponds  to pattern, which  may include
        the special  characters  `*', `?',  and `[...]'  recognized by  the
        shell sh. The pattern matches only  the part of the file name after
        any slash (`/') characters.

-newer file
        Match if the file is newer than file.

-nop    Always match; does nothing.

-ok command
        Same as -exec above, except prompt  interactively and only executes
        command if the user types response `y'.

-perm octal
        Match if owner,  group, and other  permissions of the  file are the
        octal bit pattern, as described in  chmod. When octal begins with a
        `-' character,  more of  the permission  bits (setuid,  setgid, and
        sticky bit) become significant.

-print  Always match; print the file name.

-size n
        Match if the file is n blocks in length; a block is 512 bytes long.

-type c
        Match if the type of the file is c, chosen from the set bcdfmp (for
        block  special,  character   special,  directory,   ordinary  file,
        multiplexed file, or pipe, respectively).

-user name
        Match if the file is  owned by user name. If name  is a number, the
        owner must have that user number.

exp1 exp2
        Match if both expressions match.  find  evaluates exp2 only if exp1
        matches.

exp1 -a exp2
        Match if both expressions match, as above.

exp1 -o exp2
        Match if either  expression matches.   find evaluates exp2  only if
        exp1 does not match.

! exp   Match if the expression does not match.

( exp )
        Parentheses are available for expression grouping.

Examples

A find  command to  print the  names of all  files and directories  in user
fred's directory is:

    find /usr/fred

The following, more complicated  find command prints out information on all
core and object  (.o) files that have not been  changed for a day.  Because
some characters are special both to  find and sh, they must be escaped with
`\' to avoid interpretation by the shell.

    find / \( -name core -o -name \*.o \) -mtime +1 \
    -exec ls -l {} \;

Finally, the  following example implements a simple  tool for keeping files
on two COHERENT systems in synch with each other.  find reads directory src
and  passes  to uucp  the  names of  all  files that  are  newer than  file
last_upload.  It  then  uses  the  command  touch to  update  the  date  on
last_upload, to use it as a marker of when the last upload was performed.

    find $HOME/src -type f -newer last_upload | while read filename
    do
        uucp -r -nyou $filename yoursystem!~/
        echo Queued file $filename to yoursystem ...
    done | mail somebodyorother
    touch last_upload

See Also

chmod,
commands,
ls,
sh,
srcpath,
test

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness