FIND(1) UNIX Reference Manual FIND(1) NNAAMMEE ffiinndd - walk a file hierarchy SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS ffiinndd [--ddssxx] [_p_a_t_h] _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n ffiinndd [--ddssxx] [--ff _p_a_t_h] _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN FFiinndd recursively descends the directory tree for each _p_a_t_h listed, evaluating an _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n (composed of the ``primaries'' and ``operands'' listed below) in terms of each file in the tree. The options are as follows: --dd The --dd option causes find to perform a depth-first traversal, i.e. directories are visited in post-order and all entries in a directo- ry will be acted on before the directory itself. By default, ffiinndd visits directories in pre-order, i.e. before their contents. Note, the default is _n_o_t a breadth-first traversal. --ff The --ff option specifies a file hierarchy for ffiinndd to traverse. If no --ff option is specified, the first operand after the options is expected to be the file hierarchy to be traversed. --ss The --ss option causes the file information and file type (see stat(2)), 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 be for the link itself. --xx The --xx option prevents ffiinndd from descending into directories that have a device number different than that of the file from which the descent began. PPRRIIMMAARRIIEESS aattiimmee _n True if the difference between the file last access time and the time ffiinndd was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is _n 24-hour periods. ccttiimmee _n True if the difference between the time of last change of file status information and the time ffiinndd was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is _n 24-hour periods. eexxeecc _u_t_i_l_i_t_y [argument ...]; True if the program named _u_t_i_l_i_t_y returns a zero value as its exit status. Optional arguments may be passed to the utility. The ex- pression 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. Utility will be exe- cuted in the directory from which ffiinndd was executed. ffssttyyppee _t_y_p_e True if the file is contained in a file system of type _t_y_p_e. Currently supported types are ``local'', ``mfs'', ``nfs'', ``pc'' and ``ufs''. The type ``local'' is not a specific file system type, but matches any file system physically mounted on the system where the ffiinndd is being executed. ggrroouupp _g_n_a_m_e True if the file belongs to the group _g_n_a_m_e. If _g_n_a_m_e is numeric and there is no such group name, then _g_n_a_m_e is treated as a group id. iinnuumm _n True if the file has inode number _n. lliinnkkss _n True if the file has _n links. llss 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''. mmttiimmee _n True if the difference between the file last modification time and the time ffiinndd was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is _n 24-hour periods. ookk _u_t_i_l_i_t_y [argument ...]; The ookk primary is identical to the eexxeecc primary with the exception that ffiinndd requests user affirmation for the execution of the utili- ty 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 value of the _o_k expression is false. nnaammee _p_a_t_t_e_r_n True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. Special shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'', ``*'', and ``?'') may be used as part of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a backslash (``\''). nneewweerr _f_i_l_e True if the current file has a more recent last modification time than _f_i_l_e. nnoouusseerr True if the file belongs to an unknown user. nnooggrroouupp True if the file belongs to an unknown group. ppeerrmm [--]_m_o_d_e The _m_o_d_e may be either symbolic (see chmod(1)) or an octal number. 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 creation mask. If the mode is octal, only bits 07777 of the file's mode bits participate in the comparison. 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 (``-''). pprriinntt 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 eexxeecc, llss, or ookk is speci- fied. pprruunnee This primary always evaluates to true. It causes ffiinndd to not des- cend into the current file. ssiizzee _n[cc] True if the file's size, rounded up, in 512-byte blocks is _n. If _n is followed by a ``c'', then the primary is true if the file's size is _n bytes. ttyyppee _t True if the file is of the specified type. Possible file types are as follows: bb block special cc character special dd directory ff regular file ll symbolic link pp FIFO ss socket uusseerr _u_n_a_m_e True if the file belongs to the user _u_n_a_m_e. If _u_n_a_m_e is numeric and there is no such user name, then _u_n_a_m_e is treated as a user id. All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to be pre- ceded 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 ' '. OOPPEERRAATTOORRSS The primaries may be combined using the following operators. The opera- tors are listed in order of decreasing precedence. ((_e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n) This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression evaluates to true. !! _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n This is the unary NOT operator. It evaluates to true if the expression is false. _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n aanndd _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n The aanndd operator is the logical AND operator. As it is implied by the juxtaposition of two expressions it does not have to be specified. The expression evalu- ates to true if both expressions are true. The second expression is not evaluated if the first ex- pression is false. _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n oorr _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n The oorr operator is the logical OR operator. The ex- pression evaluates to true if either the first or the second expression is true. The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is true. All operands and primaries must be separate arguments to ffiinndd. Primaries which themselves take arguments expect each argument to be a separate ar- gument to ffiinndd. EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS The following examples are shown as given to the shell: find / \! name *.c print Print out a list of all the files whose names do not end in ``.c''. find / newer ttt user wnj print Print out a list of all the files owned by user ``wnj'' that are newer than the file ``ttt''. find / \! \( newer ttt user wnj Print out a list of all the files which are not both newer than ``ttt'' and owned by ``wnj''. find / \( newer ttt or user wnj Print out a list of all the files that are either owned by ``wnj'' or that are newer than ``ttt''. SSEEEE AALLSSOO chmod(1), sh(1), test(1), stat(2), umask(2), getpwent(3), getgrent(3), strmode(3) SSTTAANNDDAARRDDSS The ffiinndd utility syntax is a replacement for the syntax specified by the POSIX 1003.2 standard. The standard syntax is also supported; see the COMPATIBILITY section below for details. The --ss option as well as the primaries iinnuumm and llss are extensions to the POSIX standard. CCOOMMPPAATTIIBBIILLIITTYY The traditional, and standardized, syntax for ffiinndd is as follows. All of the primaries are preceded by a dash (``-''), i.e. the primary ``group'' is specified as ``-group''. The --dd, --ss, and --xx options are implemented using the primaries ``-depth'', ``-follow'', and ``-xdev''. These pri- maries always evaluate to true. The operator ``or'' is implemented as ``-o'', and the operator ``and'' is implemented as ``-a''. The set of file trees to be traversed are specified as the first operands to ffiinndd. The first operand beginning with a dash (``-''), exclamation point (``!'') or left parenthesis (``('') is assumed to be the beginning of the expression and the end of the files to be traversed. The ffiinndd syntax was changed for two reasons. The first is that the ``-depth'', ``-follow'' and ``-xdev'' primaries are really global vari- ables that take effect before the traversal begins. This causes some le- gal expressions to 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. This is not the case. The second reason is that traversing file trees with names beginning with a dash, exclamation point or left parenthesis was impossible. BBUUGGSS The special characters used by ffiinndd are also special characters to many shell programs. In particular, the characters ``*'', ``['', ``]'', ``?'', ``('', ``)'', ``!'', ``\'' and ``;'' may have to be escaped from the shell.