NAME

find − find files

SYNOPSIS

find path-name-list expression

DESCRIPTION

find recursively descends the directory hierarchy for each path name in the path-name-list (that is, one or more path names) seeking files that match a boolean expression written in the primaries given below.  In the descriptions, the argument n is used as a decimal integer where +n means more than n, −n means less than n and n means exactly n. Valid expressions are:

−name pattern True if pattern matches the current file name.  Normal shell file name generation characters (see sh(1)) may be used.  A backslash (\) is used as an escape character within the pattern. The pattern should be escaped or quoted when find is invoked from the shell. 

−perm [-]onum True if the file permission flags exactly match the octal number onum (see chmod(1)).  If onum is prefixed by a minus sign (-), only the bits that are set in onum are compared with the file permission flags, and the expression evaluates true if they match. 

−size n[c] True if the file is n blocks long (512 bytes per block).  If n is followed by a c, the size is in characters. 

−atime n True if the file was accessed n days ago.  The access time of directories in path-name-list is changed by find itself. 

−mtime n True if the file’s data was modified n days ago. 

−ctime n True if the file’s status was changed n days ago. 

−exec cmd True if the executed cmd returns a zero value as exit status.  The end of cmd must be punctuated by an escaped semicolon.  A command argument {} is replaced by the current path name. 

−ok cmd Like −exec except that the generated command line is printed with a question mark first, and is executed only if the user responds by typing y. 

−print Always true; causes the current path name to be printed. 

−newer file True if the current file has been modified more recently than the argument file.

−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.  This can be useful when find is used with cpio(1) to transfer files that are contained in directories without write permission. 

−mount Always true; restricts the search to the file system containing the directory specified. 

−local True if the file physically resides on the local system.  False for files found on a Network File System, however all accessible directories will still be traversed. 

( expression ) True if the parenthesized expression is true (parentheses are special to the shell and must be escaped). 

−type c True if the type of the file is c, where c is b, c, d, l, p, s, or f for block special file, character special file, directory, symbolic link, fifo (named pipe), socket, or plain file, respectively. 

−follow Always true; causes symbolic links to be followed.  When following symbolic links, find keeps track of the directories visited so that it can detect infinite loops; for example, such a loop would occur if a symbolic link pointed to an ancestor.  This expression should not be used with the −type l expression. 

−links n True if the file has n links. 

−user uname True if the file belongs to the user uname.  If uname is numeric and does not appear as a login name in the /etc/passwd file, it is taken as a user ID. 

−nouser True if the file belongs to a user not in the /etc/passwd file. 

−group gname True if the file belongs to the group gname. If gname is numeric and does not appear in the /etc/group file, it is taken as a group ID. 

−nogroup True if the file belongs to a group not in the /etc/group file. 

−inum n True if the file has inode number n.

−prune Always true.  Do not examine any directories or files in the directory structure below the pattern just matched.  See the examples, below. 

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

1) The negation of a primary (! is the unary not operator). 

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

3) Alternation of primaries (−o is the or operator). 

Note that when you use find in conjunction with cpio, if you use the −L option with cpio then you must use the −follow expression with find and vice versa.  Otherwise there will be undesirable results. 

EXAMPLES

Remove all files in your home directory named a.out or ∗.o that have not been accessed for a week:

find $HOME \( −name a.out −o −name ′∗.o′ \) −atime +7 −exec rm {} \;

Find all files larger than 100 blocks on the local system:

find / −size +100 −print −o ! −local −prune

The following example produces the same list of large files, but is not recommended because it traverses all directories on remote systems:

find / −local −size +100 −print

Recursively print all file names in the current directory and below, but skipping SCCS directories:

find . −type d −name SCCS −prune −o −print

Recursively print all file names in the current directory and below, skipping the contents of SCCS directories, but printing out the SCCS directory name:

find . −print −type d −name SCCS −prune

FILES

/etc/passwd, /etc/group

SEE ALSO

chmod(1), cpio(1), sh(1), test(1). 
stat(2), umask(2), and fs(4) in the CX/UX Programmer’s Reference Manual.

WARNING

The following options are obsolete and may not be supported in future releases. 

−cpio device Always true; write the current file on device in cpio(1) format (5120-byte records, using cpio option -B). 

−ncpio device Always true; write the current file on device in cpio(1) compatibility format (5120-byte records, using cpio options -cB). 

If a directory is altered at certain critical times while find is reading the directory, particularly if a file is removed after find reads the parent directory and before find compares the file with its primaries, or if the directory is compacted due to the creation of new files, a diagnostic of the form

find: stat() error: file: error message

will be displayed.  This will occur most often during periods of heavy activity in the directory.

CX/UX User’s Reference Manual