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Full Discussion: mtime, ctime, and atime
Top Forums UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Tips and Tutorials mtime, ctime, and atime Post 302101136 by Perderabo on Thursday 28th of December 2006 03:43:51 AM
Old 12-28-2006
find command -mtime -ctime -atime

The find command uses arguments like:
-mtime -2
-mtime +2
-mtime 2

There are -ctime and -atime options as well. Since we now understand the differences among mtime, ctime, and atime, by understanding how find uses the -mtime option, the other two become understood as well. So I will describe find's use of the -mtime option.

As you probably know, the find command can run for minutes or hours depending on the size of the filesystem being searched. The find command makes a note of its own start time. It then looks at a file's mtime and computes how many seconds ago the file was modified. By dividing the seconds by 86,400 (and discarding any remainder), it can calculate the file's age in days:
Code:
0 days in seconds:       0  -   86399
1 day in seconds:    86400  -  172799
2 days in seconds:  172800  -  259159

So now that we know how many days ago a file was modified, we can use stuff like "-mtime 2" which specifies files that are 172800 to 259159 seconds older than the instant that the find command was started.

"-mtime -2" means files that are less than 2 days old, such as a file that is 0 or 1 days old.

"-mtime +2" means files that are more than 2 days old... {3, 4, 5, ...}

It may seem odd, but +0 is supposed to work and would mean files more than 0 days old. It is very important to recognize that find's concept of a "day" has nothing to do with midnight.

Last edited by Perderabo; 08-05-2007 at 12:40 PM..
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find(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   find(1)

Name
       find - find files

Syntax
       find pathname-list  expression

Description
       The  command  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 inte-
       ger where +n means more than n, -n means less than n , and n means exactly n.

Options
       -atime n       Tests true if the file has been accessed in n days.

       -cpio output   Writes current file on output in the format (5120-byte records) specified in the reference page.	The output can be either a
		      file or tape device.  If output is a tape device the B key must be used to read data from the tape.

       -ctime n       Tests true if the file has been changed in n days.

       -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 (that is, postorder instead of preorder).  This can be useful when is used with to transfer files that are
		      contained in directories without write permission.

       -exec command  Tests true if specified command returns a 0 on exit.  The end of the command must be punctuated by an escaped semicolon.	 A
		      command argument `{}' is replaced by the current pathname.

       -group gname   Tests true if group ID matches specified group name.

       -inum n	      Tests true if the file has inode number n.

       -links n       Tests true if the file has n links.

       -mount	      Tests true if the current file is on the same file system as the current starting pathname.

       -mtime n       Tests true if the file has been modified in n days.

       -name filename Tests  true  if  the  filename  argument matches the current file name.  Normal Shell argument syntax may be used if escaped
		      (watch out for `[', `?' and `*').

       -newer file    Tests true if the current file has been modified more recently than the argument file.

       -ok command    Executes specified command on standard output, then standard input is read and command executed only upon response y.

       -perm onum     Tests true if file has specified octal number.  For further information, see If onum is prefixed by a minus sign, more  flag
		      bits (017777) become significant and the flags are compared: (flags&onum)==onum.	For further information, see

       -print	      Prints current pathname.

       -size n	      Tests true if the file is n blocks long (512 bytes per block).

       -type c	      Tests  true  if  file is c type ( c = b, block special file: c, character special file: d, directory: f, plain file: l, sym-
		      bolic link: p, type port: s, type socket).

       -user uname    Tests true if file owner is login name or numeric user ID.

       The primaries may be combined using the following operators (in order of decreasing precedence):

       1)  A parenthesized group of primaries and operators (parentheses are special to the Shell and must be escaped).

       2)  The negation of a primary (`!' is the unary not operator).

       3)  Concatenation of primaries (the and operation is implied by the juxtaposition of two primaries).

       4)  Alternation of primaries (`-o' is the or operator).

Examples
       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 {} ;

       To find all files on the root file system type:
       find / -mount -print

       To write all the files on the root file system to tape:
       find / -mount -print -cpio /dev/rmt?h
       cpio -iBvt < /dev/rmt?h

       To find all the mount points on the root file system type:
       find / ! -mount -print

Files
See Also
       cpio(1), sh(1), test(1), cpio(5), fs(5)

																	   find(1)
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