4.2BSD/usr/man/man1/find.1

.TH FIND 1  "18 January 1983"
.SH NAME
find \- find files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B find
pathname-list  expression
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Find
recursively descends
the directory hierarchy for
each pathname in the
.I pathname-list
(i.e., one or more pathnames)
seeking files that match a boolean
.I expression
written in the primaries given below.
In the descriptions, the argument
.I n
is used as a decimal integer
where
.I +n
means more than
.I n,
.I \-n
means less than
.I n
and
.I n
means exactly
.IR n .
.TP 10n
.BR \-name " filename"
True if the
.I filename
argument matches the current file name.
Normal
Shell
argument syntax may be used if escaped (watch out for
`[', `?' and `*').
.TP
.BR \-perm " onum"
True if the file permission flags
exactly
match the
octal number
.I onum
(see
.IR  chmod (1)).
If
.I onum
is prefixed by a minus sign,
more flag bits (017777, see
.IR   stat (2))
become significant and
the flags are compared:
.IR (flags&onum)==onum .
.TP
.BR \-type " c"
True if the type of the file
is
.I c,
where
.I c
is
.B "b, c, d, f"
or
.B l
for
block special file, character special file,
directory, plain file, or symbolic link.
.TP
.BR \-links " n"
True if the file has
.I n
links.
.TP
.BR \-user " uname"
True if the file belongs to the user
.I uname
(login name or numeric user ID).
.TP
.BR \-group " gname"
True if the file belongs to group
.I gname
(group name or numeric group ID).
.TP
.BR \-size " n"
True if the file is
.I n
blocks long (512 bytes per block).
.TP
.BR \-inum " n"
True if the file has inode number
.I n.
.TP
.BR \-atime " n"
True if the file has been accessed in
.I n
days.
.TP
.BR \-mtime " n"
True if the file has been modified in
.I n
days.
.TP
.BR \-exec " command"
True if the executed command returns
a zero value as exit status.
The end of the command must be punctuated by an escaped
semicolon.
A command argument `{}' is replaced by the
current pathname.
.TP
.BR \-ok " command"
Like
.B \-exec
except that the generated command is written on
the standard output, then the standard input is read
and the command executed only upon response
.BR y .
.TP
.B  \-print
Always true;
causes the current pathname to be printed.
.TP
.BR \-newer " file"
True if
the current file has been modified more recently than the argument
.I file.
.PP
The primaries may be combined using the following operators
(in order of decreasing precedence):
.TP 4
1)
A parenthesized group of primaries and operators
(parentheses are special to the Shell and must be escaped).
.TP 4
2)
The negation of a primary
(`!' is the unary
.I not
operator).
.TP 4
3)
Concatenation of primaries
(the
.I and
operation
is implied by the juxtaposition of two primaries).
.TP 4
4)
Alternation of primaries
.RB "(`" \-o "' is the"
.I or
operator).
.SH EXAMPLE
To remove all files named
`a.out' or `*.o' that have not been accessed for a week:
.IP "" .2i
find / \\( \-name a.out \-o \-name '*.o' \\)
\-atime +7 \-exec rm {} \\;
.SH FILES
/etc/passwd
.br
/etc/group
.SH "SEE ALSO"
sh(1), test(1), fs(5)
.SH BUGS
The syntax is painful.