find(1) find(1)
NAME [Toc] [Back]
find - find files
SYNOPSIS [Toc] [Back]
find pathname_list [expression]
DESCRIPTION [Toc] [Back]
The find command recursively descends the directory hierarchy for each
path name in pathname_list (that is, one or more path names) seeking
files that match a Boolean expression written in the primaries given
below. By default, find does not follow symbolic links.
The Boolean expression is evaluated using short-circuit evaluation.
This means that whenever the result of a Boolean operation (AND or OR)
is known from evaluating the left-hand argument, the right-hand
argument is not evaluated.
In the descriptions of the primaries, the argument n represents a
decimal integer; +n means more than n, -n means less than n, and n
means exactly n.
The following primaries are recognized:
-depth A position-independent term which 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(1) to
transfer files that are contained in
directories without write permission. It is
also useful when using cpio(1) and the
modification dates of directories must be
preserved. Always true.
-follow A position-independent term which causes find
to follow symbolic links. When following
symbolic links, find keeps track of the
directories visited so that it can detect
infinite loops; for example, such a loop would
occur if a symbolic link pointed to an
ancestor. This expression should not be used
with the -type l expression. Always true.
-fsonly FStype A position-independent term which causes find
to stop descending any directory whose file
system is not of the type specified by FStype,
where FStype is one of cdfs, hfs, vxfs, or nfs,
representing the CDFS, HFS, JFS (VXFS) or NFS
file system type, respectively.
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In this context, mount points inherit the
FStype of their parent directory. This means
that when -fsonly hfs has been specified and
find encounters an NFS mount point that is
mounted on an HFS file system, the mount point
will be visited but entries below that mount
point will not. It is important to note that
when -fsonly nfs has been specified, any HFS
file systems that are beneath the mount point
of an NFS file system are not traversed.
Always true.
-local True if the file physically resides on the
local system. This does not restrict the
search to only files which physically reside on
the local system, it merely matches such files.
See EXAMPLES.
-xdev A position-independent term that causes find to
avoid crossing any file system mount points
that exist below starting points enumerated in
pathname_list. The mount point itself is
visited, but entries below the mount point are
not. Always true.
-mountstop Identical to -xdev. This primary is provided
for backward compatibility only. -xdev is
preferred over -mountstop.
-name file True if pattern file matches the last component
of the current file name. Pattern is matched
according to Pattern Matching Notation for
filename expansion. Pattern should be escaped
(using backslash) or quoted when find is
invoked from the shell, to prevent the shell
from expanding any metacharacters. Pattern may
contain supplementary code set characters.
-path file Same as -name except the full path (as would be
output by -print) is used instead of just the
base name. Note that / characters are not
treated as a special case. For example,
*/.profile matches ./home/fred/.profile.
-perm [-]mode In this primary, the argument mode is used to
represent file mode bits. The argument is
identical in format to the mode operand as
described in chmod(1), with the exception that
the first character must not be the - operator.
When using the symbolic form of mode, the
starting template is assumed to have all file
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mode bits cleared.
If the leading minus is omitted, this primary
is true when the file permission bits exactly
match the value of mode. Bits associated with
the symbolic attributes s (set-user-ID, setgroup-ID)
and t (sticky bit) are ignored when
the minus is omitted.
If mode is preceded by a minus, this primary is
true if all of the bits that are set in mode
are also set in the file permission bits. In
this case, the bits associated with the
symbolic attributes s and t are significant.
-fstype FStype True if the file system to which the file
belongs is of type FStype, where FStype is one
of cdfs, hfs, nfs, or vxfs corresponding to the
CDFS, HFS, NFS, or JFS (VXFS) file system type,
respectively.
-type c True if the type of the file is c, where c is
one of:
f Regular file
d Directory
b Block special file
c Character special file
p FIFO (named pipe)
l Symbolic link
s Socket
n Network special file
M Mount point
-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 taken as a
user ID. The uname operand can be preceded by
a + or - to modify the comparison of the
primaries. If the argument n represents a
decimal integer; +n means more than n, -n means
less than n, and n means exactly n.
-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 taken as a group ID.
The gname operand can be preceded by a + or -
to modify the comparison of the primaries. If
the argument n represents a decimal integer; +n
means more than n, -n means less than n, and n
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means exactly n.
-nouser True if the file belongs to a user ID that is
not listed in the password database. See
passwd(4).
-nogroup True if the file belongs to a group ID that is
not listed in the group database. See
group(4).
-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 bytes.
-atime n True if the file access time subtracted from
the initialized time is n-1 to n multiples of
24 h. The initialization time shall be a time
between the invocation of the find utility and
the first access by that invocation of the find
utility to any file specified by its path
operands. The access time of directories in
pathname_list is changed by find itself.
-mtime n True if the file modification time subtracted
from the initialization time is n-1 to n
multiples of 24 h. The initialization time
shall be a time between the invocation of the
find utility and the first access by that
invocation of the find utility to any file
specified in its path operands.
-ctime n True if the time of last change of file status
information subtracted from the initialization
time is n-1 to n multiples of 24 h. The
initialization time shall be a time between the
invocation of the find utility and the first
access by that invocation of the find utility
to any file specified by its path operands.
-newer file True if the current file has been modified more
recently than the argument file.
-newer[tv1[tv2]] file True if the indicated time value (tv1) of the
current file is newer than the indicated time
value (tv2) of file. The time values tv1 and
tv2 are each selected from the set of
characters:
a The time the file was last accessed
c The time the inode of the file was
last modified
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m The time the file was last modified
If the tv2 character is omitted, it defaults to
m. Note that the -newer option is equivalent
to -newermm.
Syntax examples;
-newera file
-newermc file
-inum n True if the file serial number (inode number)
is n. Note that file serial numbers are unique
only within a given file system. Therefore,
matching file serial numbers does not guarantee
that the referenced files are the same unless
you restrict the search to a single file
system.
-linkedto path True if the file is the same physical file as
the file specified by path (i.e., linked to
path). This primary is similar to -inum, but
correctly detects when a file is hard-linked to
path, even when multiple file systems are
searched.
-print Causes the current path name to be printed.
Always true.
-exec cmd True if the executed cmd returns a zero value
as exit status. The end of cmd must be
punctuated by a semicolon (;) or a plus sign
(+) (semicolon and plus are special to the
shell and must be escaped). When + is used, cmd
aggregates a set of pathnames and executes on
the set. Any command arguments between the
first occurrence of {} and + are ignored. The
reason for preferring + to a ; is vastly
improved performance. Any command argument {}
is replaced by the current path name. cmd may
contain supplementary code set characters.
-ok cmd Same as -exec except that the generated command
line is printed with a question mark first, and
is executed only if the user responds by typing
y. The form of the affirmative response is
locale dependent: y in the C locale, see LANG
on environ(5). The end of cmd must be
punctuated by a semicolon (;) (semicolon is
special to the shell and must be escaped). cmd
may contain supplementary code set characters.
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-cpio device Write the current file on device in cpio(4)
format (5120-byte records). The use of -cpio
implies -depth. Always true.
-ncpio Same as -cpio but adds the -c option to cpio.
The use of -ncpio implies -depth. Always true.
-prune If the current entry is a directory, cause find
to skip that directory. This can be useful to
avoid walking certain directories, or to avoid
recursive loops when using cpio -p. Note,
however, that -prune is useless if the -depth
option has also been given. See the
description of -only and the EXAMPLES section,
below, for more information. Always true.
-only This is a positive-logic version of -prune. A
-prune is performed after every directory,
unless -only is successfully evaluated for that
directory. As an example, the following three
commands are equivalent:
find . -fsonly hfs -print
find . -print -fstype hfs -only
find . -print ! -fstype hfs -prune
Note, however, that -only is useless if the -
depth option has also been given. Always true.
( expression ) True if the parenthesized expression is true.
The spaces are required. Parentheses are
special to the shell and must be escaped, as in
\( and \).
Primaries can be combined by using the following operators (in order
of decreasing precedence):
! expression Logical NOT operator. True if
expression is not true.
expression [-a] expression Logical AND operator. True if both of
the expressions are true.
expression -o expression Logical OR operator. True if either or
both of the expressions are true.
If expression is omitted, or if none of -print, -ok, -exec, -cpio, or
-ncpio is specified, -print is assumed. The -user, -group, and -newer
primaries each evaluate their respective arguments once.
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HFS Access Control Lists [Toc] [Back]
The -acl primary enables the user to search for HFS access control
list entries. It is true if the file's access control list matches an
access control list pattern or contains optional access control list
entries (see acl(5)). It has three forms:
-acl aclpatt Match all files whose access control list
includes all (zero or more) pattern entries
specified by the aclpatt pattern.
-acl =aclpatt Match a file only if its access control list
includes all (zero or more) pattern entries
specified by the aclpatt pattern, and every
entry in its access control list is matched by
at least one pattern entry specified in the
aclpatt pattern.
-acl opt Match all files containing optional access
control list entries.
The aclpatt string can be given as an operator or short form pattern;
see acl(5).
By default, -acl is true for files whose access control lists include
all the (zero or more) access control list patterns in aclpatt. A
file's access control list can also contain unmatched entries.
If aclpatt begins with =, the remainder of the string must match all
entries in a file's access control list.
The aclpatt string (by default, or the part following =) can be either
an access control list or an access control list pattern. However, if
it is an access control list, aclpatt must include at least the three
base entries ((user.%, mode), (%.group, mode), and (%.%, mode)).
As a special case, if aclpatt is the word opt, the primary is true for
files with access control list entries.
JFS Access Control Lists [Toc] [Back]
The -aclv primary enables the user to search for JFS access control
list entries. It is true if the file's access control list matches an
access control list pattern or contains optional access control list
entries (see aclv(5)). It has three forms:
-aclv aclpatt Match all files whose access control list
includes all (zero or more) pattern entries
specified by the aclpatt pattern.
-aclv =aclpatt Match a file only if its access control list
includes all (zero or more) pattern entries
specified by the aclpatt pattern, and every
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entry in its access control list is matched by
at least one pattern entry specified in the
aclpatt pattern.
-aclv opt Match all files containing optional access
control list entries.
By default, -aclv is true for files whose access control lists include
all the (zero or more) access control list patterns in aclpatt. A
file's access control list can also contain unmatched entries.
If aclpatt begins with =, the remainder of the string must match all
entries in a file's access control list.
An aclpatt consists of a type field, an ID field, and a mode field,
separated by colons. Multiple comma-separated aclpatts may be
specified.
The type field is one of user, group, class, other or *, optionally
preceded by default:. user, group, class, other and default can be
abbreviated to u, g, c, o and d, respectively. A type field of *
matches any of the above types.
The ID field is either a numeric user or group ID, a user or group ID
string from /etc/passwd or /etc/group respectively, or *, which
matches any ID.
The mode field consists of a string of three characters. The first
character is either r, indicating that read permission is granted; -,
indicating that read permission is denied; or ?, which matches either
state of read permission. The second character is either w, -, or ?,
similarly indicating the state of write permission; and the third
character is either x, -, or ?, indicating the state of execute
permission.
As a special case, if aclpatt is the word opt, the primary is true for
files with optional access control list entries.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES [Toc] [Back]
Environment Variables
If an internationalization variable is not specified or is null, it
defaults to the value of LANG.
If LANG is not specified or is null, it defaults to C (see lang(5)).
If LC_ALL is set to a nonempty string value, it overrides the values
of all the other internationalization variables.
If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, all
internationalization variables default to C (see environ(5)).
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LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of text as single and/or
multibyte characters, the classification of characters as printable,
and the characters matched by character class expressions in regular
expressions.
LC_MESSAGES determines the locale that should be used to affect the
format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error
and informative messages written to standard output.
NLSPATH determines the location of message catalogues for the
processing of LC_MESSAGES.
International Code Set Support [Toc] [Back]
Single- and multibyte character code sets are supported.
EXAMPLES [Toc] [Back]
Search the two directories /example and /new/example for files
containing the string Where are you and print the names of the files:
find /example /new/example -exec grep -l 'Where are you' {} \;
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 {} \;
Note that the spaces delimiting the escaped parentheses are
required.
Print a single long listing of all files named *.o in the current
directory:
find . -name '*.o' -exec ls -l {} \+
find . -name '*.o' -exec ls -l \+
Note that the curly braces, before plus sign, are optional.
Print the names of all files on this machine. Avoid walking nfs
directories while still printing the nfs mount points:
find / -fsonly hfs -print
Match only local files, and do not examine the contents of any
directory found to be remotely mounted:
find / ! -local -prune -o -size +50 -print
This only works correctly if there are no local file systems mounted
on top of remote directories. This example will print all local files
on the system larger than 50 blocks, without wasting time accessing
remote files.
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To get the same effect, but to check for files in local file systems
mounted on remote directories, use:
find / -local -size +50 -print
Copy the entire file system to a disk mounted on /Disk, avoiding the
recursive copy problem. Both commands are equivalent (note the use of
-path instead of -name):
cd /; find . ! -path ./Disk -only -print | cpio -pdxm /Disk
cd /; find . -path ./Disk -prune -o -print | cpio -pdxm /Disk
Copy the root disk to a disk mounted on /Disk, skipping all mounted
file systems below /. Note that -xdev does not cause / to be skipped,
even though it is a mount point. This is because / is the starting
point and -xdev only affects entries below starting points.
cd /; find . -xdev -print | cpio -pdm /Disk
Change permissions on all regular files in a directory subtree to mode
444, and permissions on all directories to 555:
find pathname -type f -print | xargs chmod 444
find pathname -type d -print | xargs chmod 555
Note that output from find was piped to xargs(1) instead of using
the -exec primary. This is because when a large number of files
or directories is to be processed by a single command, the -exec
primary spawns a separate process for each file or directory,
whereas xargs collects file names or directory names into
multiple arguments to a single chmod command, resulting in fewer
processes and greater system efficiency. The + delimiter for the
-exec primary can be used to achieve the same efficiency.
Access Control List Examples [Toc] [Back]
Find all files not owned by user karl that have access control lists
with at least one entry associated with karl, and one entry for no
specific user in group bin with the read bit on and the write bit off:
find / ! -user karl -acl 'karl.*, %.bin+r-w' -print
Find all files that have a read bit set in any access control list
entry:
find / -acl '*.*+r' -print
Find all files that have the write bit unset and execute bit set in
every access control list entry:
find / -acl '=*.*-w+x' -print
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Find all files that have optional access control list entries:
find / -acl opt -print
DEPENDENCIES [Toc] [Back]
NFS
The -acl primary is always false for NFS files.
WARNINGS [Toc] [Back]
Because of interoperability goals, cpio does not support archiving
files larger than 2GB or files that have user/group IDs larger than
60,000 (60K). Files with user/group IDs greater than 60K are archived
and restored under the user/group ID of the current process.
AUTHOR [Toc] [Back]
find was developed by AT&T and HP.
FILES [Toc] [Back]
/etc/group Group names
/etc/mnttab Mount points
/etc/passwd User names
SEE ALSO [Toc] [Back]
chacl(1), chmod(1), cpio(1), setacl(1), sh(1), test(1), xargs(1),
mknod(2), stat(2), cpio(4), group(4), passwd(4), acl(5), aclv(5),
environ(5), lang(5), regexp(5).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE [Toc] [Back]
find: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3, XPG4, POSIX.2
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