find command help

 find - search for files in a directory hierarchy
 

SYNOPSIS

 find [path...] [expression]
 

DESCRIPTION

 This manual page documents the GNU version of find. 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 OPERAュ
 TORS), 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.
 
 The first argument that begins with `-', `(', `)', `,', or
 `!' is taken to be the beginning of the expression; any
 arguments before it are paths to search, and any arguments
 after it are the rest of the expression. If no paths are
 given, the current directory is used. If no expression is
 given, the expression `-print' is used.
 
 find exits with status 0 if all files are processed sucュ
 cessfully, greater than 0 if errors occur.
 

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. They always take effect,
 rather than being processed only when their place in the
 expression is reached. Therefore, for clarity, it is best
 to place them at the beginning of the expression.
 
 -daystart
 Measure times (for -amin, -atime, -cmin, -ctime,
 -mmin, and -mtime) from the beginning of today
 rather than from 24 hours ago.
 
 -depth Process each directory's contents before the direcュ
 tory itself.
 
 -follow
 Dereference symbolic links. Implies -noleaf.
 
 Print a summary of the command-line usage of find
 and exit.
 
 -maxdepth levels
 Descend at most levels (a non-negative integer)
 levels of directories below the command line arguュ
 ments. `-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.
 
 -noleaf
 Do not optimize by assuming that directories conュ
 tain 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 filesysュ
 tems 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 subdirectoュ
 ries 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.
 
 -version, --version
 Print the find version number and exit.
 
 -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.
 
 File was last accessed n minutes ago.
 
 -anewer file
 File was last accessed more recently than file was
 modified. -anewer is affected by -follow only if
 -follow comes before -anewer on the command line.
 
 -atime n
 File was last accessed n*24 hours 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. -cnewer is affected by -follow
 only if -follow comes before -cnewer on the command
 line.
 
 -ctime n
 File's status was last changed n*24 hours ago.
 
 -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.
 
 -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.
 
 -inum n
 File has inode number n.
 Like -path, but the match is case insensitive.
 
 -iregex pattern
 Like -regex, 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.
 
 -mmin n
 File's data was last modified n minutes ago.
 
 -mtime n
 File's data was last modified n*24 hours ago.
 
 -name pattern
 Base of file name (the path with the leading direcュ
 tories removed) matches shell pattern pattern. The
 metacharacters (`*', `?', and `[]') do not match a
 `.' at the start of the base name. To ignore a
 directory and the files under it, use -prune; see
 an example in the description of -path.
 
 -newer file
 File was modified more recently than file. -newer
 is affected by -follow only if -follow comes before
 -newer on the command line.
 
 -nouser
 No user corresponds to file's numeric user ID.
 
 -nogroup
 No group corresponds to file's numeric group ID.
 
 -path pattern
 File name matches shell pattern pattern. The
 metacharacters do not treat `/' or `.' specially;
 so, for example,
 find . -path './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 . -path './src/emacs' -prune -o
 -print
 
 File's permission bits are exactly mode (octal or
 symbolic). Symbolic modes use mode 0 as a point of
 departure.
 
 -perm -mode
 All of the permission bits mode are set for the
 file.
 
 -perm +mode
 Any of the permission bits mode are set for the
 file.
 
 -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 `b.*r3'.
 
 -size n[bckw]
 File uses n units of space. The units are 512-byte
 blocks by default or if `b' follows n, bytes if `c'
 follows n, kilobytes if `k' follows n, or 2-byte
 words if `w' follows n. The size does not count
 indirect blocks, but it does count blocks in sparse
 files that are not actually allocated.
 
 -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
 
 s socket
 
 -uid n File's numeric user ID is n.
 
 -used n
 File was last accessed n days after its status was
 last changed.
 
 File is owned by user uname (numeric user ID
 allowed).
 
 -xtype c
 The same as -type unless the file is a symbolic
 link. For symbolic links: if -follow has not been
 given, true if the file is a link to a file of type
 c; if -follow 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
 -exec command ;
 Execute command; true if 0 status is returned. All
 following arguments to find are taken to be arguュ
 ments 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 constructions might need to
 be escaped (with a `\') or quoted to protect them
 from expansion by the shell. The command is exeュ
 cuted in the starting directory.
 
 -fls file
 True; like -ls but write to file like -fprint.
 
 -fprint file
 True; print the full file name into file file. If
 file does not exist when find is run, it is creュ
 ated; if it does exist, it is truncated. The file
 names ``/dev/stdout'' and ``/dev/stderr'' are hanュ
 dled specially; they refer to the standard output
 and standard error output, respectively.
 
 -fprint0 file
 True; like -print0 but write to file like -fprint.
 
 -fprintf file format
 True; like -printf but write to file like -fprint.
 
 -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.
 
 -print True; print the full file name on the standard outュ
 put, followed by a newline.
 
 -print0
 True; print the full file name on the standard outュ
 interpreted by programs that process the find outュ
 put.
 
 -printf format
 True; print format on the standard output, interュ
 preting `\' escapes and `%' directives. Field
 widths and precisions can be specified as with the
 `printf' C function. Unlike -print, -printf does
 not add a newline at the end of the string. The
 escapes and directives are:
 
 \a Alarm bell.
 
 \b Backspace.
 
 \c Stop printing from this format immediately
 and flush the output.
 
 \f Form feed.
 
 \n Newline.
 
 \r Carriage return.
 
 \t Horizontal tab.
 
 \v Vertical tab.
 
 \\ A literal backslash (`\').
 
 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 speciュ
 fied by k, which is either `@' or a direcュ
 tive for the C `strftime' function. The
 possible values for k are listed below; some
 of them might not be available on all sysュ
 tems, due to differences in `strftime'
 between systems.
 
 @ seconds since Jan. 1, 1970, 00:00
 GMT.
 
 Time fields:
 
 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)
 
 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)
 
 x locale's date representation
 (mm/dd/yy)
 
 y last two digits of year (00..99)
 
 Y year (1970...)
 
 %b File's size in 512-byte blocks (rounded up).
 
 %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.
 
 %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).
 
 %H Command line argument under which file was
 found.
 
 %i File's inode number (in decimal).
 
 %k File's size in 1K blocks (rounded up).
 
 %l Object of symbolic link (empty string if
 file is not a symbolic link).
 
 %m File's permission bits (in octal).
 
 %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.
 
 %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.
 
 A `%' character followed by any other character is
 discarded (but the other character is printed).
 
 -prune If -depth is not given, true; do not descend the
 current directory.
 If -depth is given, false; no effect.
 
 -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.
 
 OPERATORS
 Listed in order of decreasing precedence:
 
 ( expr )
 Force precedence.
 
 ! expr True if expr is false.
 
 -not expr
 Same as ! expr.
 
 expr1 expr2
 And (implied); expr2 is not evaluated if expr1 is
 false.
 
 expr1 -a expr2
 Same as expr1 expr2.
 
 expr1 -and expr2
 Same as expr1 expr2.
 
 expr1 -o expr2
 Or; expr2 is not evaluated if expr1 is true.
 
 expr1 -or expr2
 Same as expr1 -o expr2.
 
 List; both expr1 and expr2 are always evaluated.
 The value of expr1 is discarded; the value of the
 list is the value of expr2.
 

SEE ALSO

 locate(1L) , locatedb(5L) , updatedb(1L) , xargs(1L)  Finding
 Files (on-line in Info, or printed)