FIND(1) RISC/os Reference Manual FIND(1)
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 com-
pared 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,
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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 direc-
tory 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 speci-
fied.
-local True if the file physically resides on the
local system.
( 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, or f for block special
file, character special file, directory,
symbolic link, fifo (named pipe), 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 sym-
bolic 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.
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-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.
-fstype type True if the filesystem to which the file
belongs is of type type.
-inum n True if the file has inode number n.
-prune Always yields true. Do not examine any
directories or files in the directory struc-
ture 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 opera-
tor).
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.
INTERNATIONAL FUNCTIONALITY
find can process characters from supplementary code sets in
addition to ASCII characters. Searches are performed on
characters, not individual bytes.
Characters from supplementary code sets can be used in
path-name-list.
Expressions:
-name file
Characters from supplementary code sets can be used in
file.
-exec cmd
-ok cmd
Characters from supplementary code sets can be used in
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cmd.
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 {} \;
Recursively print all file names in the current directory
and below, but skipping SCCS directories:
find . -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 -name SCCS -prune
FILES
/etc/passwd, /etc/group
SEE ALSO
chmod(1), sh(1), test(1).
stat(2), and umask(2) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
fs(4) in the System Administrator's Reference Manual.
NOTE
When using find to determine files modified within a range
of time, one must use the ?time argument BEFORE the -print
argument otherwise find will give all files.
WARNING
The following option is obsolete and will not be supported
in future releases.
-cpio device Always true; write the current file on dev-
ice in cpio(1) format (5120-byte records).
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