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 (i.e., 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.

−name file True if file matches the current file name.  Normal shell argument syntax may be used if escaped (watch out for [, ? and ∗). 

−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, more flag bits (017777, see stat(2)) become significant and the flags are compared:

(flags&onum)==onum

−type c True if the type of the file is c, where c is b, c, d, p, or f for block special file, character special file, directory, fifo (a.k.a named pipe), or plain file. 

−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. 

−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. 

−size n True if the file is n blocks long (512 bytes per block). 

−atime n True if the file has been accessed in n days. 

−mtime n True if the file has been modified in n days. 

−ctime n True if the file has been changed in n days. 

−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. 

−cpio device Write the current file on device in cpio(5) format (5120 byte records).

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

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

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). 

EXAMPLE

To remove all files named a.out or ∗.o that have not been accessed for a week:

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

FILES

/etc/passwd, /etc/group

SEE ALSO

cpio(1), sh(1), test(1), stat(2), cpio(5), fs(5). 

May 16, 1980