FIND(1) BSD General Commands Manual FIND(1)
NAME
find -- walk a file hierarchy
SYNOPSIS
find [-H | -L | -P] [-EXdsx] [-f pathname] [pathname ...] expression
DESCRIPTION
Find recursively descends the directory tree for each pathname listed, evaluating an expression (composed of the ``primaries'' and
``operands'' listed below) in terms of each file in the tree.
The options are as follows:
-E Interpret regular expressions followed by -regex and -iregex options as extended (modern) regular expressions rather than basic regu-
lar expressions (BRE's). The re_format(7) manual page fully describes both formats.
-H The -H option causes the file information and file type (see stat(2)) returned for each symbolic link specified on the command line
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. File information of all symbolic links not on the command line is that of the link itself.
-L The -L option causes the file information and file type (see stat(2)) returned for each symbolic link to be those of the file refer-
enced 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.
-P The -P option causes the file information and file type (see stat(2)) returned for each symbolic link to be those of the link itself.
This is the default.
-X The -X option is a modification to permit find to be safely used in conjunction with xargs(1). If a file name contains any of the
delimiting characters used by xargs(1), a diagnostic message is displayed on standard error, and the file is skipped. The delimiting
characters include single (`` ' '') and double (`` " '') quotes, backslash (``''), space, tab and newline characters.
-d The -d option causes find to perform a depth-first traversal, i.e., directories are visited in post-order and all entries in a direc-
tory will be acted on before the directory itself. By default, find visits directories in pre-order, i.e., before their contents.
Note, the default is not a breadth-first traversal.
-f The -f option specifies a file hierarchy for find to traverse. File hierarchies may also be specified as the operands immediately
following the options.
-s The -s option causes find to traverse the file hierarchies in lexicographical order, i.e., alphabetical order within each directory.
Note: 'find -s' and 'find | sort' may give different results.
-x The -x option prevents find from descending into directories that have a device number different than that of the file from which the
descent began.
PRIMARIES
-amin n
True if the difference between the file last access time and the time find was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is n min-
utes.
-anewer file
Same as -neweram.
-atime n
True if the difference between the file last access time and the time find was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period,
is n 24-hour periods.
-cmin n
True if the difference between the time of last change of file status information and the time find was started, rounded up to the
next full minute, is n minutes.
-cnewer file
Same as -newercm.
-ctime n
True if the difference between the time of last change of file status information and the time find was started, rounded up to the
next full 24-hour period, is n 24-hour periods.
-delete
Delete found files and/or directories. Always returns true. This executes from the current working directory as find recurses down
the tree. It will not attempt to delete a filename with a ``/'' character in its pathname relative to ``.'' for security reasons.
Depth-first traversal processing is implied by this option.
-depth Always true; same as the -d option. -depth can be useful when find is used with cpio(1) to process files that are contained in
directories with unusual permissions. It enures that you have write permission while you are placing files in a directory, then sets
the directory's permissions as the last thing.
-empty True if the current file or directory is empty.
-exec utility [argument ...];
True if the program named utility returns a zero value as its exit status. Optional arguments may be passed to the utility. The
expression 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 executed from the directory from which find was executed. Utility
and arguments are not subject to the further expansion of shell patterns and constructs.
-execdir utility [argument ...];
The -execdir primary is identical to the -exec primary with the exception that utility will be executed from the directory that holds
the current file. The filename substituted for the string ``{}'' is not qualified.
-flags [-|+]flags,notflags
The flags are specified using symbolic names (see chflags(1)). Those with the "no" prefix (except "nodump") are said to be notflags.
Flags in flags are checked to be set, and flags in notflags are checked to be not set. Note that this is different from -perm, which
only allows the user to specify mode bits that are set.
If flags are preceded by a dash (``-''), this primary evaluates to true if at least all of the bits in flags and none of the bits in
notflags are set in the file's flags bits. If flags are preceded by a plus (``+''), this primary evaluates to true if any of the
bits in flags is set in the file's flags bits, or any of the bits in notflags is not set in the file's flags bits. Otherwise, this
primary evaluates to true if the bits in flags exactly match the file's flags bits, and none of the flags bits match those of
notflags.
-fstype type
True if the file is contained in a file system of type type. The sysctl(8) command can be used to find out the types of filesystems
that are available on the system:
sysctl vfs
In addition, there are two pseudo-types, ``local'' and ``rdonly''. The former matches any file system physically mounted on the sys-
tem where the find is being executed and the latter matches any file system which is mounted read-only.
-group gname
True if the file belongs to the group gname. If gname is numeric and there is no such group name, then gname is treated as a group
ID.
-iname pattern
Like -name, but the match is case insensitive.
-inum n
True if the file has inode number n.
-ipath pattern
Like -path, but the match is case insensitive.
-iregex pattern
Like -regex, but the match is case insensitive.
-links n
True if the file has n links.
-ls This primary always evaluates to true. The following information for the current file is written to standard output: its inode num-
ber, size in 512-byte blocks, file permissions, number of hard links, owner, group, size in bytes, last modification time, and path-
name. 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.
-maxdepth n
True if the depth of the current file into the tree is less than or equal to n.
-mindepth n
True if the depth of the current file into the tree is greater than or equal to n.
-mmin n
True if the difference between the file last modification time and the time find was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is
n minutes.
-mnewer file
Same as -newer.
-mtime n
True if the difference between the file last modification time and the time find was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour
period, is n 24-hour periods.
-name pattern
True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches pattern. Special shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'',
``*'', and ``?'') may be used as part of pattern. These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a backslash
(``'').
-newer file
True if the current file has a more recent last modification time than file.
-newerXY file
True if the current file has a more recent last access time (X=a), change time (X=c), or modification time (X=m) than the last access
time (Y=a), change time (Y=c), or modification time (Y=m) of file. In addition, if Y=t, then file is instead interpreted as a direct
date specification of the form understood by cvs(1). Note that -newermm is equivalent to -newer.
-nogroup
True if the file belongs to an unknown group.
-nouser
True if the file belongs to an unknown user.
-ok utility [argument ...];
The -ok primary is identical to the -exec primary with the exception that find requests user affirmation for the execution of the
utility by printing a message to the terminal and reading a response. If the response is other than ``y'' the command is not exe-
cuted and the value of the -ok expression is false.
-okdir utility [argument ...];
The -okdir primary is identical to the -execdir primary with the same exception as described for the -ok primary.
-path pattern
True if the pathname being examined matches pattern. Special shell pattern matching characters (``['', ``]'', ``*'', and ``?'') may
be used as part of pattern. These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a backslash (``''). Slashes (``/'')
are treated as normal characters and do not have to be matched explicitly.
-perm [-|+]mode
The mode 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
(S_ISUID | S_ISGID | S_ISTXT | S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO) 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 preceded by a plus (``+''), this primary evaluates to true if any of the bits in the mode are set in the file's mode
bits. Otherwise, this primary evaluates to true if the bits in the mode exactly match the file's mode bits. Note, the first charac-
ter of a symbolic mode may not be a dash (``-'').
-print This primary always evaluates to true. It prints the pathname of the current file to standard output. If none of -exec, -ls,
-print0, or -ok is specified, the given expression shall be effectively replaced by ( given expression ) -print.
-print0
This primary always evaluates to true. It prints the pathname of the current file to standard output, followed by an ASCII NUL char-
acter (character code 0).
-prune This primary always evaluates to true. It causes find to not descend into the current file. Note, the -prune primary has no effect
if the -d option was specified.
-regex pattern
True if the whole path of the file matches pattern using regular expression. To match a file named ``./foo/xyzzy'', you can use the
regular expression ``.*/[xyz]*'' or ``.*/foo/.*'', but not ``xyzzy'' or ``/foo/''.
-size n[c]
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 (characters).
-type t
True if the file is of the specified type. Possible file types are as follows:
b block special
c character special
d directory
f regular file
l symbolic link
p FIFO
s socket
-user uname
True if the file belongs to the user uname. If uname is numeric and there is no such user name, then uname is treated as a user ID.
All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to be preceded 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''.
OPERATORS
The primaries may be combined using the following operators. The operators are listed in order of decreasing precedence.
( expression ) This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression evaluates to true.
! expression
-false expression
-not expression
This is the unary NOT operator. It evaluates to true if the expression is false.
expression -and expression
expression expression
The -and 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 evaluates to true if both expressions are true. The second expression is not evaluated if the
first expression is false.
expression -or expression
The -or operator is the logical OR operator. The expression 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 find. Primaries which themselves take arguments expect each argument to be a sepa-
rate argument to find.
EXAMPLES
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
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
Print out a list of all the files that are either owned by ``wnj'' or that are newer than ttt.
find . -newerct '1 minute ago' -print
Print out a list of all the files whose inode change time is more recent than the current time minus one minute.
SEE ALSO
chflags(1), chmod(1), cvs(1), locate(1), whereis(1), which(1), stat(2), fts(3), getgrent(3), getpwent(3), strmode(3), re_format(7),
symlink(7)
STANDARDS
The find utility syntax is a superset of the syntax specified by the IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') standard.
All the single character options as well as the -iname, -inum, -iregex, -print0, -delete, -ls, and -regex primaries are extensions to IEEE
Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'').
Historically, the -d, -h and -x options were implemented using the primaries -depth, -follow, and -xdev. These primaries always evaluated to
true. As they were really global variables that took effect before the traversal began, some legal expressions could 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 operator -or was implemented as -o, and the operator -and was implemented as -a.
Historic implementations of the -exec and -ok primaries did not replace the string ``{}'' in the utility name or the utility arguments if it
had preceding or following non-whitespace characters. This version replaces it no matter where in the utility name or arguments it appears.
The -E option was implemented on the analogy of grep(1) and sed(1).
BUGS
The special characters used by find are also special characters to many shell programs. In particular, the characters ``*'', ``['', ``]'',
``?'', ``('', ``)'', ``!'', ``'' and ``;'' may have to be escaped from the shell.
As there is no delimiter separating options and file names or file names and the expression, it is difficult to specify files named -xdev or
!. These problems are handled by the -f option and the getopt(3) ``--'' construct.
The -delete primary does not interact well with other options that cause the filesystem tree traversal options to be changed.
HISTORY
A find command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
BSD
May 3, 2001 BSD