FIND(1) General Commands Manual FIND(1)
NAME
find - search for files in a directory hierarchy
SYNOPSIS
find [-H] [-L] [-P] [path...] [expression]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents the GNU version of find. GNU find searches the directory tree rooted at each given file name by evaluating the
given expression from left to right, according to the rules of precedence (see section OPERATORS), until the outcome is known (the left
hand side is false for and operations, true for or), at which point find moves on to the next file name.
If you are using find in an environment where security is important (for example if you are using it to seach directories that are writable
by other users), you should read the "Security Considerations" chapter of the findutils documentation, which is called Finding Files and
comes with findutils. That document also includes a lot more detail and discussion than this manual page, so you may find it a more use-
ful source of information.
OPTIONS
The `-H', `-L' and `-P' options control the treatment of symbolic links. Command-line arguments following these are taken to be names of
files or directories to be examined, up to the first argument that begins with `-', `(', `)', `,', or `!'. That argument and any following
arguments are taken to be the expression describing what is to be searched for. If no paths are given, the current directory is used. If
no expression is given, the expression `-print' is used (but you should probably consider using `-print0' instead, anyway).
This manual page talks about `options' within the expression list. These options control the behaviour of find but are specified immedi-
ately after the last path name. The three `real' options `-H', `-L' and `-P' must appear before the first path name, if at all.
-P Never follow symbolic links. This is the default behaviour. When find examines or prints information a file, and the file is a
symbolic link, the information used shall be taken from the properties of the symbolic link itself.
-L Follow symbolic links. When find examines or prints information about files, the information used shall be taken from the proper-
ties of the file to which the link points, not from the link itself (unless it is a broken symbolic link or find is unable to exam-
ine the file to which the link points). Use of this option implies -noleaf. If you later use the -P option, -noleaf will still be
in effect. If -L is in effect and find discovers a symbolic link to a subdirectory during its search, the subdirectory pointed to
by the symbolic link will be searched.
When the -L option is in effect, the -type predicate will always match against the type of the file that a symbolic link points to
rather than the link itself (unless the symbolic link is broken). Using -L causes the -lname and -ilname predicates always to
return false.
-H Do not follow symbolic links, except while processing the command line arguments. When find examines or prints information about
files, the information used shall be taken from the properties of the symbolic link itself. The only exception to this behaviour
is when a file specified on the command line is a symbolic link, and the link can be resolved. For that situation, the information
used is taken from whatever the link points to (that is, the link is followed). The information about the link itself is used as a
fallback if the file pointed to by the symbolic link cannot be examined. If -H is in effect and one of the paths specified on the
command line is a symbolic link to a directory, the contents of that directory will be examined (though of course -maxdepth 0 would
prevent this).
If more than one of -H, -L and -P is specified, each overrides the others; the last one appearing on the command line takes effect. Since
it is the default, the -P option should be considered to be in effect unless either -H or -L is specified.
GNU find frequently stats files during the processing of the command line itself, before any searching has begun. These options also
affect how those arguments are processed. Specifically, there are a number of tests that compare files listed on the command line against
a file we are currently considering. In each case, the file specified on the command line will have been examined and some of its proper-
ties will have been saved. If the named file is in fact a symbolic link, and the -P option is in effect (or if neither -H nor -L were
specified), the information used for the comparison will be taken from the properties of the symbolic link. Otherwise, it will be taken
from the properties of the file the link points to. If find cannot follow the link (for example because it has insufficient privileges or
the link points to a nonexistent file) the properties of the link itself will be used.
When the -H or -L options are in effect, any symbolic links listed as the argument of -newer will be dereferenced, and the timestamp will
be taken from the file to which the symbolic link points. The same consideration applies to -anewer and -cnewer.
The -follow option has a similar effect to -L, though it takes effect at the point where it appears (that is, if -L is not used but -follow
is, any symbolic links appearing after -follow on the command line will be dereferenced, and those before it will not).
EXPRESSIONS
The expression is made up of options (which affect overall operation rather than the processing of a specific file, and always return
true), tests (which return a true or false value), and actions (which have side effects and return a true or false value), all separated by
operators. -and is assumed where the operator is omitted.
If the expression contains no actions other than -prune, -print is performed on all files for which the expression is true.
OPTIONS
All options always return true. Except for -follow and -daystart, the options affect all tests, including tests specified before the
option. This is because the options are processed when the command line is parsed, while the tests don't do anything until files are exam-
ined. The -follow and -daystart options are different in this respect, and have an effect only on tests which appear later in the command
line. Therefore, for clarity, it is best to place them at the beginning of the expression. A warning is issued if you don't do this.
-daystart
Measure times (for -amin, -atime, -cmin, -ctime, -mmin, and -mtime) from the beginning of today rather than from 24 hours ago. This
option only affects tests which appear later on the command line.
-depth Process each directory's contents before the directory itself.
-d A synonym for -depth, for compatibility with FreeBSD, NetBSD, MacOS X and OpenBSD.
-follow
Deprecated; use the -L option instead. Dereference symbolic links. Implies -noleaf. The -follow option affects only those tests
which appear after it on the command line. Unless the -H or -L option has been specified, the position of the -follow option
changes the behaviour of the -newer predicate; any files listed as the argument of -newer will be dereferenced if they are symbolic
links. The same consideration applies to -anewer and -cnewer. Similarly, the -type predicate will always match against the type of
the file that a symbolic link points to rather than the link itself. Using -follow causes the -lname and -ilname predicates always
to return false.
-help, --help
Print a summary of the command-line usage of find and exit.
-ignore_readdir_race
Normally, find will emit an error message when it fails to stat a file. If you give this option and a file is deleted between the
time find reads the name of the file from the directory and the time it tries to stat the file, no error message will be issued.
This also applies to files or directories whose names are given on the command line. This option takes effect at the time the com-
mand line is read, which means that you cannot search one part of the filesystem with this option on and part of it with this option
off (if you need to do that, you will need to issue two find commands instead, one with the option and one without it).
-maxdepth levels
Descend at most levels (a non-negative integer) levels of directories below the command line arguments. `-maxdepth 0' means only
apply the tests and actions to the command line arguments.
-mindepth levels
Do not apply any tests or actions at levels less than levels (a non-negative integer). `-mindepth 1' means process all files except
the command line arguments.
-mount Don't descend directories on other filesystems. An alternate name for -xdev, for compatibility with some other versions of find.
-noignore_readdir_race
Turns off the effect of -ignore_readdir_race.
-noleaf
Do not optimize by assuming that directories contain 2 fewer subdirectories than their hard link count. This option is needed when
searching filesystems that do not follow the Unix directory-link convention, such as CD-ROM or MS-DOS filesystems or AFS volume
mount points. Each directory on a normal Unix filesystem has at least 2 hard links: its name and its `.' entry. Additionally, its
subdirectories (if any) each have a `..' entry linked to that directory. When find is examining a directory, after it has statted
2 fewer subdirectories than the directory's link count, it knows that the rest of the entries in the directory are non-directories
(`leaf' files in the directory tree). If only the files' names need to be examined, there is no need to stat them; this gives a
significant increase in search speed.
-regextype type
Changes the regular expression syntax understood by -regex and -iregex tests which occur later on the command line. Currently-
implemented types are emacs (this is the default), posix-awk, posix-basic, posix-egrep and posix-extended.
-version, --version
Print the find version number and exit.
-warn, -nowarn
Turn warning messages on or off. These warnings apply only to the command line usage, not to any conditions that find might
encounter when it searches directories. The default behaviour corresponds to -warn if standard input is a tty, and to -nowarn oth-
erwise.
-xdev Don't descend directories on other filesystems.
TESTS
Numeric arguments can be specified as
+n for greater than n,
-n for less than n,
n for exactly n.
-amin n
File was last accessed n minutes ago.
-anewer file
File was last accessed more recently than file was modified. If file is a symbolic link and the -H option or the -L option is in
effect, the access time of the file it points to is always used.
-atime n
File was last accessed n*24 hours ago. When find figures out how many 24-hour periods ago the file was last accessed, any frac-
tional part is ignored, so to match -atime +1, a file has to have been accessed at least two days ago.
-cmin n
File's status was last changed n minutes ago.
-cnewer file
File's status was last changed more recently than file was modified. If file is a symbolic link and the -H option or the -L option
is in effect, the status-change time of the file it points to is always used.
-ctime n
File's status was last changed n*24 hours ago. See the comments for -atime to understand how rounding affects the interpretation of
file status change times.
-empty File is empty and is either a regular file or a directory.
-false Always false.
-fstype type
File is on a filesystem of type type. The valid filesystem types vary among different versions of Unix; an incomplete list of
filesystem types that are accepted on some version of Unix or another is: ufs, 4.2, 4.3, nfs, tmp, mfs, S51K, S52K. You can use
-printf with the %F directive to see the types of your filesystems.
-gid n File's numeric group ID is n.
-group gname
File belongs to group gname (numeric group ID allowed).
-ilname pattern
Like -lname, but the match is case insensitive. If the -L option or the -follow option is in effect, this test returns false unless
the symbolic link is broken.
-iname pattern
Like -name, but the match is case insensitive. For example, the patterns `fo*' and `F??' match the file names `Foo', `FOO', `foo',
`fOo', etc. In these patterns, unlike filename expansion by the shell, an initial '.' can be matched by '*'. That is, find -name
*bar will match the file `.foobar'. Please note that you should quote patterns as a matter of course, otherwise the shell will
expand any wildcard characters in them.
-inum n
File has inode number n. It is normally easier to use the -samefile test instead.
-ipath pattern
Behaves in the same way as -iwholename. This option is deprecated, so please do not use it.
-iregex pattern
Like -regex, but the match is case insensitive.
-iwholename pattern
Like -wholename, but the match is case insensitive.
-links n
File has n links.
-lname pattern
File is a symbolic link whose contents match shell pattern pattern. The metacharacters do not treat `/' or `.' specially. If the
-L option or the -follow option is in effect, this test returns false unless the symbolic link is broken.
-mmin n
File's data was last modified n minutes ago.
-mtime n
File's data was last modified n*24 hours ago. See the comments for -atime to understand how rounding affects the interpretation of
file modification times.
-name pattern
Base of file name (the path with the leading directories removed) matches shell pattern pattern. The metacharacters (`*', `?', and
`[]') match a `.' at the start of the base name (this is a change in findutils-4.2.2; see section STANDARDS CONFORMANCE below). To
ignore a directory and the files under it, use -prune; see an example in the description of -wholename. Braces are not recognised
as being special, despite the fact that some shells including Bash imbue braces with a special meaning in shell patterns. The file-
name matching is performed with the use of the fnmatch(3) library function. Don't forget to enclose the pattern in quotes in order
to protect it from expansion by the shell.
-newer file
File was modified more recently than file. If file is a symbolic link and the -H option or the -L option is in effect, the modifi-
cation time of the file it points to is always used.
-nouser
No user corresponds to file's numeric user ID.
-nogroup
No group corresponds to file's numeric group ID.
-path pattern
See -wholename. The predicate -path is also supported by HP-UX find.
-perm mode
File's permission bits are exactly mode (octal or symbolic). Since an exact match is required, if you want to use this form for
symbolic modes, you may have to specify a rather complex mode string. For example '-perm g=w' will only match files which have mode
0020 (that is, ones for which group write permission is the only permission set). It is more likely that you will want to use the
'/' or '-' forms, for example '-perm -g=w', which matches any file with group write permission. See the EXAMPLES section for some
illustrative examples.
-perm -mode
All of the permission bits mode are set for the file. Symbolic modes are accepted in this form, and this is usually the way in
which would want to use them. You must specify 'u', 'g' or 'o' if you use a symbolic mode. See the EXAMPLES section for some
illustrative examples.
-perm /mode
Any of the permission bits mode are set for the file. Symbolic modes are accepted in this form. You must specify 'u', 'g' or 'o'
if you use a symbolic mode. See the EXAMPLES section for some illustrative examples. If no permission bits in mode are set, this
test currently matches no files. However, it will soon be changed to match any file (the idea is to be more consistent with the be-
haviour of perm -000).
-perm +mode
Deprecated, old way of searching for files with any of the permission bits in mode set. You should use -perm /mode instead. Trying
to use the '+' syntax with symbolic modes will yield surprising results. For example, '+u+x' is a valid symbolic mode (equivalent
to +u,+x, i.e. 0111) and will therefore not be evaluated as -perm +mode but instead as the exact mode specifier -perm mode and so it
matches files with exact permissions 0111 instead of files with any execute bit set. If you found this paragraph confusing, you're
not alone - just use -perm /mode. This form of the -perm test is deprecated because the POSIX specification requires the interpre-
tation of a leading '+' as being part of a symbolic mode, and so we switched to using '/' instead.
-regex pattern
File name matches regular expression pattern. This is a match on the whole path, not a search. For example, to match a file named
`./fubar3', you can use the regular expression `.*bar.' or `.*b.*3', but not `f.*r3'. The regular expressions understood by find
are by default Emacs Regular Expressions, but this can be changed with the -regextype option.
-samefile name
File refers to the same inode as name. When -L is in effect, this can include symbolic links.
-size n[cwbkMG]
File uses n units of space. The following suffixes can be used:
`b' for 512-byte blocks (this is the default if no suffix is used)
`c' for bytes
`w' for two-byte words
`k' for Kilobytes (units of 1024 bytes)
`M' for Megabytes (units of 1048576 bytes)
`G' for Gigabytes (units of 1073741824 bytes)
The size does not count indirect blocks, but it does count blocks in sparse files that are not actually allocated. Bear in mind
that the `%k' and `%b' format specifiers of -printf handle sparse files differently. The `b' suffix always denotes 512-byte blocks
and never 1 Kilobyte blocks, which is different to the behaviour of -ls.
-true Always true.
-type c
File is of type c:
b block (buffered) special
c character (unbuffered) special
d directory
p named pipe (FIFO)
f regular file
l symbolic link; this is never true if the -L option or the -follow option is in effect, unless the symbolic link is broken.
If you want to search for symbolic links when -L is in effect, use -xtype.
s socket
D door (Solaris)
-uid n File's numeric user ID is n.
-used n
File was last accessed n days after its status was last changed.
-user uname
File is owned by user uname (numeric user ID allowed).
-wholename pattern
File name matches shell pattern pattern. The metacharacters do not treat `/' or `.' specially; so, for example,
find . -wholename './sr*sc'
will print an entry for a directory called './src/misc' (if one exists). To ignore a whole directory tree, use -prune rather than
checking every file in the tree. For example, to skip the directory `src/emacs' and all files and directories under it, and print
the names of the other files found, do something like this:
find . -wholename './src/emacs' -prune -o -print
-xtype c
The same as -type unless the file is a symbolic link. For symbolic links: if the -H or -P option was specified, true if the file is
a link to a file of type c; if the -L option has been given, true if c is `l'. In other words, for symbolic links, -xtype checks
the type of the file that -type does not check.
ACTIONS
-delete
Delete files; true if removal succeeded. If the removal failed, an error message is issued. Use of this action automatically turns
on the '-depth' option.
-exec command ;
Execute command; true if 0 status is returned. All following arguments to find are taken to be arguments to the command until an
argument consisting of `;' is encountered. The string `{}' is replaced by the current file name being processed everywhere it
occurs in the arguments to the command, not just in arguments where it is alone, as in some versions of find. Both of these con-
structions might need to be escaped (with a `') or quoted to protect them from expansion by the shell. See the EXAMPLES section
for examples of the use of the `-exec' option. The specified command is run once for each matched file. The command is executed in
the starting directory. There are unavoidable security problems surrounding use of the -exec option; you should use the -execdir
option instead.
-exec command {} +
This variant of the -exec option runs the specified command on the selected files, but the command line is built by appending each
selected file name at the end; the total number of invocations of the command will be much less than the number of matched files.
The command line is built in much the same way that xargs builds its command lines. Only one instance of '{}' is allowed within the
command. The command is executed in the starting directory.
-execdir command ;
-execdir command {} +
Like -exec, but the specified command is run from the subdirectory containing the matched file, which is not normally the directory
in which you started find. This a much more secure method for invoking commands, as it avoids race conditions during resolution of
the paths to the matched files. As with the -exec option, the '+' form of -execdir will build a command line to process more than
one matched file, but any given invocation of command will only list files that exist in the same subdirectory. If you use this
option, you must ensure that your $PATH environment variable does not reference the current directory; otherwise, an attacker can
run any commands they like by leaving an appropriately-named file in a directory in which you will run -execdir.
-fls file
True; like -ls but write to file like -fprint. The output file is always created, even if the predicate is never matched. See the
UNUSUAL FILENAMES section for information about how unusual characters in filenames are handled.
-fprint file
True; print the full file name into file file. If file does not exist when find is run, it is created; if it does exist, it is
truncated. The file names ``/dev/stdout'' and ``/dev/stderr'' are handled specially; they refer to the standard output and standard
error output, respectively. The output file is always created, even if the predicate is never matched. See the UNUSUAL FILENAMES
section for information about how unusual characters in filenames are handled.
-fprint0 file
True; like -print0 but write to file like -fprint. The output file is always created, even if the predicate is never matched. See
the UNUSUAL FILENAMES section for information about how unusual characters in filenames are handled.
-fprintf file format
True; like -printf but write to file like -fprint. The output file is always created, even if the predicate is never matched. See
the UNUSUAL FILENAMES section for information about how unusual characters in filenames are handled.
-ok command ;
Like -exec but ask the user first (on the standard input); if the response does not start with `y' or `Y', do not run the command,
and return false. If the command is run, its standard input is redirected from /dev/null.
-print True; print the full file name on the standard output, followed by a newline. If you are piping the output of find into another
program and there is the faintest possibility that the files which you are searching for might contain a newline, then you should
seriously consider using the `-print0' option instead of `-print'. See the UNUSUAL FILENAMES section for information about how
unusual characters in filenames are handled.
-okdir command ;
Like -execdir but ask the user first (on the standard input); if the response does not start with `y' or `Y', do not run the com-
mand, and return false. If the command is run, its standard input is redirected from /dev/null.
-print0
True; print the full file name on the standard output, followed by a null character (instead of the newline character that `-print'
uses). This allows file names that contain newlines or other types of white space to be correctly interpreted by programs that
process the find output. This option corresponds to the `-0' option of xargs.
-printf format
True; print format on the standard output, interpreting `' escapes and `%' directives. Field widths and precisions can be speci-
fied as with the `printf' C function. Please note that many of the fields are printed as %s rather than %d, and this may mean that
flags don't work as you might expect. This also means that the `-' flag does work (it forces fields to be left-aligned). Unlike
-print, -printf does not add a newline at the end of the string. The escapes and directives are:
a Alarm bell.
Backspace.
c Stop printing from this format immediately and flush the output.
f Form feed.
Newline.
Carriage return.
Horizontal tab.
v Vertical tab.
ASCII NUL.
\ A literal backslash (`').
NNN The character whose ASCII code is NNN (octal).
A `' character followed by any other character is treated as an ordinary character, so they both are printed.
%% A literal percent sign.
%a File's last access time in the format returned by the C `ctime' function.
%Ak File's last access time in the format specified by k, which is either `@' or a directive for the C `strftime' function. The
possible values for k are listed below; some of them might not be available on all systems, due to differences in `strftime'
between systems.
@ seconds since Jan. 1, 1970, 00:00 GMT.
Time fields:
H hour (00..23)
I hour (01..12)
k hour ( 0..23)
l hour ( 1..12)
M minute (00..59)
p locale's AM or PM
r time, 12-hour (hh:mm:ss [AP]M)
S second (00..61)
T time, 24-hour (hh:mm:ss)
+ Date and time, separated by '+', for example `2004-04-28+22:22:05'. The time is given in the current timezone (which
may be affected by setting the TZ environment variable). This is a GNU extension.
X locale's time representation (H:M:S)
Z time zone (e.g., EDT), or nothing if no time zone is determinable
Date fields:
a locale's abbreviated weekday name (Sun..Sat)
A locale's full weekday name, variable length (Sunday..Saturday)
b locale's abbreviated month name (Jan..Dec)
B locale's full month name, variable length (January..December)
c locale's date and time (Sat Nov 04 12:02:33 EST 1989)
d day of month (01..31)
D date (mm/dd/yy)
h same as b
j day of year (001..366)
m month (01..12)
U week number of year with Sunday as first day of week (00..53)
w day of week (0..6)
W week number of year with Monday as first day of week (00..53)
x locale's date representation (mm/dd/yy)
y last two digits of year (00..99)
Y year (1970...)
%b The amount of disk space used for this file in 512-byte blocks. Since disk space is allocated in multiples of the filesystem
block size this is usually greater than %s/512, but it can also be smaller if the file is a sparse file.
%c File's last status change time in the format returned by the C `ctime' function.
%Ck File's last status change time in the format specified by k, which is the same as for %A.
%d File's depth in the directory tree; 0 means the file is a command line argument.
%D The device number on which the file exists (the st_dev field of struct stat), in decimal.
%f File's name with any leading directories removed (only the last element).
%F Type of the filesystem the file is on; this value can be used for -fstype.
%g File's group name, or numeric group ID if the group has no name.
%G File's numeric group ID.
%h Leading directories of file's name (all but the last element). If the file name contains no slashes (since it is in the cur-
rent directory) the %h specifier expands to ".".
%H Command line argument under which file was found.
%i File's inode number (in decimal).
%k The amount of disk space used for this file in 1K blocks. Since disk space is allocated in multiples of the filesystem block
size this is usually greater than %s/1024, but it can also be smaller if the file is a sparse file.
%l Object of symbolic link (empty string if file is not a symbolic link).
%m File's permission bits (in octal). This option uses the 'traditional' numbers which most Unix implementations use, but if
your particular implementation uses an unusual ordering of octal permissions bits, you will see a difference between the
actual value of the file's mode and the output of %m. Normally you will want to have a leading zero on this number, and to
do this, you should use the # flag (as in, for example, '%#m').
%M File's permissions (in symbolic form, as for ls). This directive is supported in findutils 4.2.5 and later.
%n Number of hard links to file.
%p File's name.
%P File's name with the name of the command line argument under which it was found removed.
%s File's size in bytes.
%t File's last modification time in the format returned by the C `ctime' function.
%Tk File's last modification time in the format specified by k, which is the same as for %A.
%u File's user name, or numeric user ID if the user has no name.
%U File's numeric user ID.
%y File's type (like in ls -l), U=unknown type (shouldn't happen)
%Y File's type (like %y), plus follow symlinks: L=loop, N=nonexistent
A `%' character followed by any other character is discarded, but the other character is printed (don't rely on this, as further
format characters may be introduced). A `%' at the end of the format argument causes undefined behaviour since there is no follow-
ing character. In some locales, it may hide your door keys, while in others it may remove the final page from the novel you are
reading.
The %m and %d directives support the # , 0 and + flags, but the other directives do not, even if they print numbers. Numeric direc-
tives that do not support these flags include G, U, b, D, k and n. The `-' format flag is supported and changes the alignment of a
field from right-justified (which is the default) to left-justified.
See the UNUSUAL FILENAMES section for information about how unusual characters in filenames are handled.
-prune If -depth is not given, true; if the file is a directory, do not descend into it.
If -depth is given, false; no effect.
-quit Exit immediately. No child processes will be left running, but no more paths specified on the command line will be processed. For
example, find /tmp/foo /tmp/bar -print -quit will print only /tmp/foo. Any command lines which have been built up with -execdir ...
{} + will be invoked before find exits. The exit status may or may not be zero, depending on whether an error has already
occurred.
-ls True; list current file in `ls -dils' format on standard output. The block counts are of 1K blocks, unless the environment variable
POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, in which case 512-byte blocks are used. See the UNUSUAL FILENAMES section for information about how unusual
characters in filenames are handled.
UNUSUAL FILENAMES
Many of the actions of find result in the printing of data which is under the control of other users. This includes file names, sizes,
modification times and so forth. File names are a potential problem since they can contain any character except '