1 .\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993
2 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
4 .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5 .\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
7 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
10 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15 .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
16 .\" must display the following acknowledgement:
17 .\" This product includes software developed by the University of
18 .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
19 .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
20 .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
21 .\" without specific prior written permission.
23 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
24 .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
25 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
26 .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
27 .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
28 .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
29 .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
30 .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
31 .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
32 .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
35 .\" @(#)find.1 8.7 (Berkeley) 5/9/95
36 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/find/find.1,v 1.87 2009/09/20 16:47:56 jilles Exp $
43 .Nd walk a file hierarchy
46 .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
52 .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
60 utility recursively descends the directory tree for each
68 listed below) in terms
69 of each file in the tree.
71 The options are as follows:
72 .Bl -tag -width indent
74 Interpret regular expressions followed by
78 primaries as extended (modern) regular expressions rather than basic
79 regular expressions (BRE's).
82 manual page fully describes both formats.
84 Cause the file information and file type (see
86 returned for each symbolic link specified on the command line to be
87 those of the file referenced by the link, not the link itself.
88 If the referenced file does not exist, the file information and type will
89 be for the link itself.
90 File information of all symbolic links not on
91 the command line is that of the link itself.
93 Cause the file information and file type (see
95 returned for each symbolic link to be those of the file referenced by the
96 link, not the link itself.
97 If the referenced file does not exist, the file information and type will
98 be for the link itself.
100 This option is equivalent to the deprecated
104 Cause the file information and file type (see
106 returned for each symbolic link to be those of the link itself.
111 to be safely used in conjunction with
113 If a file name contains any of the delimiting characters used by
115 a diagnostic message is displayed on standard error, and the file
117 The delimiting characters include single
123 space, tab and newline characters.
125 However, you may wish to consider the
127 primary in conjunction with
129 as an effective alternative.
133 to perform a depth-first traversal, i.e., directories
134 are visited in post-order and all entries in a directory will be acted
135 on before the directory itself.
138 visits directories in pre-order, i.e., before their contents.
141 a breadth-first traversal.
143 This option is equivalent to the
154 to process files that are contained in directories with unusual permissions.
155 It ensures that you have write permission while you are placing files in a
156 directory, then sets the directory's permissions as the last thing.
158 Specify a file hierarchy for
161 File hierarchies may also be specified as the operands immediately
162 following the options.
166 to traverse the file hierarchies in lexicographical order,
167 i.e., alphabetical order within each directory.
172 may give different results.
176 from descending into directories that have a device number different
177 than that of the file from which the descent began.
179 This option is equivalent to the deprecated
184 .Bl -tag -width indent
186 True if the difference between the time of a file's inode creation
189 was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is
192 .It Ic -Bnewer Ar file
195 .It Ic -Btime Ar n Ns Op Cm smhdw
196 If no units are specified, this primary evaluates to
197 true if the difference between the time of a file's inode creation
200 was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is
204 If units are specified, this primary evaluates to
205 true if the difference between the time of a file's inode creation
208 was started is exactly
213 primary description for information on supported time units.
215 May be used in conjunction with other primaries to locate
216 files with extended ACLs.
219 for more information.
221 True if the difference between the file last access time and the time
223 was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is
226 .It Ic -anewer Ar file
229 .It Ic -atime Ar n Ns Op Cm smhdw
230 If no units are specified, this primary evaluates to
231 true if the difference between the file last access time and the time
233 was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is
237 If units are specified, this primary evaluates to
238 true if the difference between the file last access time and the time
240 was started is exactly
243 Possible time units are as follows:
245 .Bl -tag -width indent -compact
258 Any number of units may be combined in one
260 argument, for example,
261 .Dq Li "-atime -1h30m" .
262 Units are probably only useful when used in conjunction with the
268 True if the difference between the time of last change of file status
269 information and the time
271 was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is
274 .It Ic -cnewer Ar file
277 .It Ic -ctime Ar n Ns Op Cm smhdw
278 If no units are specified, this primary evaluates to
279 true if the difference between the time of last change of file status
280 information and the time
282 was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is
286 If units are specified, this primary evaluates to
287 true if the difference between the time of last change of file status
288 information and the time
290 was started is exactly
295 primary description for information on supported time units.
299 GNU find implements this as a primary in mistaken emulation of
303 Delete found files and/or directories.
306 from the current working directory as
308 recurses down the tree.
309 It will not attempt to delete a filename with a
311 character in its pathname relative to
313 for security reasons.
314 Depth-first traversal processing is implied by this option.
315 Following symlinks is incompatible with this option.
322 True if the depth of the file relative to the starting point of the traversal
326 True if the current file or directory is empty.
327 .It Ic -exec Ar utility Oo Ar argument ... Oc Li \&;
328 True if the program named
330 returns a zero value as its exit status.
333 may be passed to the utility.
334 The expression must be terminated by a semicolon
338 from a shell you may need to quote the semicolon if the shell would
339 otherwise treat it as a control operator.
342 appears anywhere in the utility name or the
343 arguments it is replaced by the pathname of the current file.
345 will be executed from the directory from which
351 are not subject to the further expansion of shell patterns
353 .It Ic -exec Ar utility Oo Ar argument ... Oc Li {} +
358 is replaced with as many pathnames as possible for each invocation of
360 This behaviour is similar to that of
362 .It Ic -execdir Ar utility Oo Ar argument ... Oc Li \&;
365 primary is identical to the
367 primary with the exception that
369 will be executed from the directory that holds
371 The filename substituted for
375 .It Ic -execdir Ar utility Oo Ar argument ... Oc Li {} +
380 is replaced with as many pathnames as possible for each invocation of
382 This behaviour is similar to that of
384 .It Ic -flags Oo Cm - Ns | Ns Cm + Oc Ns Ar flags , Ns Ar notflags
385 The flags are specified using symbolic names (see
395 are checked to be set, and flags in
397 are checked to be not set.
398 Note that this is different from
400 which only allows the user to specify mode bits that are set.
402 If flags are preceded by a dash
404 this primary evaluates to true
405 if at least all of the bits in
407 and none of the bits in
409 are set in the file's flags bits.
410 If flags are preceded by a plus
412 this primary evaluates to true
413 if any of the bits in
415 is set in the file's flags bits,
416 or any of the bits in
418 is not set in the file's flags bits.
420 this primary evaluates to true
423 exactly match the file's flags bits,
428 .It Ic -fstype Ar type
429 True if the file is contained in a file system of type
433 command can be used to find out the types of file systems
434 that are available on the system:
438 In addition, there are two pseudo-types,
442 The former matches any file system physically mounted on the system where
445 is being executed and the latter matches any file system which is
450 for compatibility with GNU find.
451 GNU find imposes a restriction that
456 .It Ic -group Ar gname
457 True if the file belongs to the group
461 is numeric and there is no such group name, then
463 is treated as a group ID.
464 .It Ic -ignore_readdir_race
465 This option is for GNU find compatibility and is ignored.
466 .It Ic -ilname Ar pattern
469 but the match is case insensitive.
470 This is a GNU find extension.
471 .It Ic -iname Ar pattern
474 but the match is case insensitive.
476 True if the file has inode number
478 .It Ic -ipath Ar pattern
481 but the match is case insensitive.
482 .It Ic -iregex Ar pattern
485 but the match is case insensitive.
486 .It Ic -iwholename Ar pattern
489 for GNU find compatibility.
494 .It Ic -lname Ar pattern
497 but the contents of the symbolic link are matched instead of the file
499 This is a GNU find extension.
501 This primary always evaluates to true.
502 The following information for the current file is written to standard output:
503 its inode number, size in 512-byte blocks, file permissions, number of hard
504 links, owner, group, size in bytes, last modification time, and pathname.
505 If the file is a block or character special file, the major and minor numbers
506 will be displayed instead of the size in bytes.
507 If the file is a symbolic link, the pathname of the linked-to file will be
508 displayed preceded by
510 The format is identical to that produced by
514 .It Ic -maxdepth Ar n
515 Always true; descend at most
517 directory levels below the command line arguments.
520 primary is specified, it applies to the entire expression even if it would
521 not normally be evaluated.
522 .Dq Ic -maxdepth Li 0
523 limits the whole search to the command line arguments.
524 .It Ic -mindepth Ar n
525 Always true; do not apply any tests or actions at levels less than
529 primary is specified, it applies to the entire expression even if it would
530 not normally be evaluated.
531 .Dq Ic -mindepth Li 1
532 processes all but the command line arguments.
534 True if the difference between the file last modification time and the time
536 was started, rounded up to the next full minute, is
539 .It Ic -mnewer Ar file
545 for GNU find compatibility.
546 .It Ic -mtime Ar n Ns Op Cm smhdw
547 If no units are specified, this primary evaluates to
548 true if the difference between the file last modification time and the time
550 was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is
554 If units are specified, this primary evaluates to
555 true if the difference between the file last modification time and the time
557 was started is exactly
562 primary description for information on supported time units.
563 .It Ic -name Ar pattern
564 True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches
566 Special shell pattern matching characters
572 may be used as part of
574 These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a
577 .It Ic -newer Ar file
578 True if the current file has a more recent last modification time than
580 .It Ic -newer Ns Ar X Ns Ar Y Ar file
581 True if the current file has a more recent last access time
582 .Pq Ar X Ns = Ns Cm a ,
584 .Pq Ar X Ns = Ns Cm B ,
586 .Pq Ar X Ns = Ns Cm c ,
588 .Pq Ar X Ns = Ns Cm m
589 than the last access time
590 .Pq Ar Y Ns = Ns Cm a ,
592 .Pq Ar Y Ns = Ns Cm B ,
594 .Pq Ar Y Ns = Ns Cm c ,
596 .Pq Ar Y Ns = Ns Cm m
603 is instead interpreted as a direct date specification of the form
611 True if the file belongs to an unknown group.
612 .It Ic -noignore_readdir_race
613 This option is for GNU find compatibility and is ignored.
615 This option is for GNU find compatibility.
616 In GNU find it disables an optimization not relevant to
620 True if the file belongs to an unknown user.
621 .It Ic -ok Ar utility Oo Ar argument ... Oc Li \&;
624 primary is identical to the
626 primary with the exception that
628 requests user affirmation for the execution of the
631 a message to the terminal and reading a response.
632 If the response is not affirmative
637 the command is not executed and the
641 .It Ic -okdir Ar utility Oo Ar argument ... Oc Li \&;
644 primary is identical to the
646 primary with the same exception as described for the
649 .It Ic -path Ar pattern
650 True if the pathname being examined matches
652 Special shell pattern matching characters
658 may be used as part of
660 These characters may be matched explicitly by escaping them with a
665 are treated as normal characters and do not have to be
667 .It Ic -perm Oo Cm - Ns | Ns Cm + Oc Ns Ar mode
670 may be either symbolic (see
675 is symbolic, a starting value of zero is assumed and the
677 sets or clears permissions without regard to the process' file mode
681 is octal, only bits 07777
682 .Pq Dv S_ISUID | S_ISGID | S_ISTXT | S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO
683 of the file's mode bits participate
687 is preceded by a dash
689 this primary evaluates to true
690 if at least all of the bits in the
692 are set in the file's mode bits.
695 is preceded by a plus
697 this primary evaluates to true
698 if any of the bits in the
700 are set in the file's mode bits.
701 Otherwise, this primary evaluates to true if
704 exactly match the file's mode bits.
705 Note, the first character of a symbolic mode may not be a dash
708 This primary always evaluates to true.
709 It prints the pathname of the current file to standard output.
712 .Ic -exec , -ls , -print , -print0 ,
715 is specified, the given expression shall be effectively replaced by
716 .Cm \&( Ar "given expression" Cm \&) Ic -print .
718 This primary always evaluates to true.
719 It prints the pathname of the current file to standard output, followed by an
722 character (character code 0).
724 This primary always evaluates to true.
727 to not descend into the current file.
730 primary has no effect if the
732 option was specified.
733 .It Ic -regex Ar pattern
734 True if the whole path of the file matches
736 using regular expression.
737 To match a file named
739 you can use the regular expression
747 .It Ic -samefile Ar name
748 True if the file is a hard link to
750 If the command option
752 is specified, it is also true if the file is a symbolic link and
755 .It Ic -size Ar n Ns Op Cm ckMGTP
756 True if the file's size, rounded up, in 512-byte blocks is
762 then the primary is true if the
768 is followed by a scale indicator then the file's size is compared to
772 .Bl -tag -width indent -compact
774 kilobytes (1024 bytes)
776 megabytes (1024 kilobytes)
778 gigabytes (1024 megabytes)
780 terabytes (1024 gigabytes)
782 petabytes (1024 terabytes)
785 True if the file is of the specified type.
786 Possible file types are as follows:
788 .Bl -tag -width indent -compact
807 for compatibility with GNU find.
808 GNU find imposes a restriction that
813 .It Ic -user Ar uname
814 True if the file belongs to the user
818 is numeric and there is no such user name, then
820 is treated as a user ID.
821 .It Ic -wholename Ar pattern
824 for GNU find compatibility.
826 True if the file has any extended attributes.
827 .It Ic -xattrname Ar name
828 True if the file has an extended attribute with the specified
832 All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to be
833 preceded by a plus sign
837 A preceding plus sign means
839 a preceding minus sign means
844 The primaries may be combined using the following operators.
845 The operators are listed in order of decreasing precedence.
847 .Bl -tag -width indent -compact
848 .It Cm \&( Ar expression Cm \&)
849 This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression evaluates to
852 .It Cm \&! Ar expression
853 .It Cm -not Ar expression
857 It evaluates to true if the expression is false.
864 .It Ar expression Cm -and Ar expression
865 .It Ar expression expression
868 operator is the logical
871 As it is implied by the juxtaposition of two expressions it does not
872 have to be specified.
873 The expression evaluates to true if both expressions are true.
874 The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is false.
876 .It Ar expression Cm -or Ar expression
879 operator is the logical
882 The expression evaluates to true if either the first or the second expression
884 The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is true.
887 All operands and primaries must be separate arguments to
889 Primaries which themselves take arguments expect each argument
890 to be a separate argument to
894 .Ev LANG , LC_ALL , LC_COLLATE , LC_CTYPE , LC_MESSAGES
897 environment variables affect the execution of the
899 utility as described in
902 The following examples are shown as given to the shell:
903 .Bl -tag -width indent
904 .It Li "find / \e! -name \*q*.c\*q -print"
905 Print out a list of all the files whose names do not end in
907 .It Li "find / -newer ttt -user wnj -print"
908 Print out a list of all the files owned by user
913 .It Li "find / \e! \e( -newer ttt -user wnj \e) -print"
914 Print out a list of all the files which are not both newer than
918 .It Li "find / \e( -newer ttt -or -user wnj \e) -print"
919 Print out a list of all the files that are either owned by
921 or that are newer than
923 .It Li "find / -newerct '1 minute ago' -print"
924 Print out a list of all the files whose inode change time is more
925 recent than the current time minus one minute.
926 .It Li "find / -type f -exec echo {} \e;"
929 command to print out a list of all the files.
930 .It Li "find -L /usr/ports/packages -type l -exec rm -- {} +"
931 Delete all broken symbolic links in
932 .Pa /usr/ports/packages .
933 .It Li "find /usr/src -name CVS -prune -o -depth +6 -print"
934 Find files and directories that are at least seven levels deep
935 in the working directory
937 .It Li "find /usr/src -name CVS -prune -o -mindepth 7 -print"
938 Is not equivalent to the previous example, since
940 is not evaluated below level seven.
945 primary is deprecated; the
947 option should be used instead.
950 section below for details.
970 utility syntax is a superset of the syntax specified by the
974 All the single character options except
979 .Ic -amin , -anewer , -cmin , -cnewer , -delete , -empty , -fstype ,
980 .Ic -iname , -inum , -iregex , -ls , -maxdepth , -mindepth , -mmin ,
981 .Ic -path , -print0 , -regex
984 birthtime related primaries are extensions to
991 options were implemented using the primaries
992 .Ic -depth , -follow ,
995 These primaries always evaluated to true.
996 As they were really global variables that took effect before the traversal
997 began, some legal expressions could have unexpected results.
998 An example is the expression
999 .Ic -print Cm -o Ic -depth .
1002 always evaluates to true, the standard order of evaluation
1005 would never be evaluated.
1006 This is not the case.
1017 Historic implementations of the
1021 primaries did not replace the string
1023 in the utility name or the
1024 utility arguments if it had preceding or following non-whitespace characters.
1025 This version replaces it no matter where in the utility name or arguments
1030 option was inspired by the equivalent
1041 The special characters used by
1043 are also special characters to many shell programs.
1044 In particular, the characters
1055 may have to be escaped from the shell.
1057 As there is no delimiter separating options and file names or file
1060 it is difficult to specify files named
1064 These problems are handled by the
1073 primary does not interact well with other options that cause the file system
1074 tree traversal options to be changed.
1080 primaries are actually global options (as documented above).
1082 probably be replaced by options which look like options.