find

find [-d | -s ] [pathname ...] expression

The find command recursively descends the directory tree +for each pathname listed, evaluating an expression (composed of the Primaries and Operands listed +in the following sections) in terms of each file in the tree.

The find command supports the following options:

+ + + + +

Option

Description

+ + + + +

-d

Cause find to perform a depth-first traversal, +that is directories are visited in post-order and all entries in a directory +will be acted on before the directory itself. By default, find visits +directories in pre-order, that is before their contents.

+ + +

-s

Cause find to traverse the file hierarchies in +lexicographical order, that is alphabetical order within each directory.

Notes:

The find -s and find +| sort commands may give different results.
When the -d and -s options +are not used, the find command traverses the directory in +pre-order, that is the directories will be listed first followed by the files +in that directory.

+ + + +

Note: For more information about using the find command, +search http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi by +specifying find as the search keyword and selecting the FreeBSD +6.2-Release option from the release list.

Primaries

The following primaries are supported +by the find command:

+ + + +

Primary

Description

+ + + + +

-amin n

True if the difference between the file last access time and the +time find was started, rounded up to the next full minute, +is n minutes.

+ + +

-anewer file

File was last accessed more recently than file was modified.

+ + +

-atime n

If no units are specified, this primary evaluates to true if the +difference between the file last access time and the time find was +started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is n 24-hour +periods.

+ + +

-cmin n

True if the difference between the time of last change of file status +information and the time find was started, rounded up to +the next full minute, is n minutes.

+ + +

-cnewer file

True if the current file has been changed more recently than the +changed time of the file named by the pathname file.

+ + +

-ctime n

If no units are specified, this primary evaluates to true if the +difference between the time of last change of file status information and +the time find was started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour +period, is n 24-hour periods.

+ + +

-delete

Deletes the files specified as an argument to the delete option.

+ + +

-depth

Always true. This option is similar to the -d option.

+ + +

-empty

True if the current file or directory is empty.

+ + +

-exec utility [argument ...] {} +

The primary evaluates as true if the invoked utility returns a zero +value as exit status.

+ + +

-iname pattern

This option is similar to -name, but the match +is case insensitive.

+ + +

-links n

True if the file has n links.

+ + +

-ls

This primary always evaluates to true. The following information +for the current file is written to standard output; inode number, size in +512-byte blocks, file permissions, number of hard link, size in bytes, last +modification time, and pathname.

+ + +

-maxdepth n

Always true; descend at most n directory levels +below the command line arguments. If any -maxdepth primary +is specified, it applies to the entire expression even if it would not normally +be evaluated. -maxdepth 0 limits the whole search to the +command line arguments.

+ + +

-mindepth n

Always true; do not apply any tests or actions at levels less than n. +If any -mindepth primary is specified, it applies to the +entire expression even if it would not normally be evaluated. -mindepth 1 +processes all but the command line arguments.

+ + +

-mtime n

If no units are specified, this primary evaluates to true if the +difference between the file last modification time and the time find was +started, rounded up to the next full 24-hour period, is n 24-hour +periods.

+ + +

-name pattern

True if the last component of the pathname being examined matches pattern. +Special shell pattern matching characters [, ], *, and ? may +be used as part of pattern. These characters may be matched +explicitly by escaping them with a backslash (\).

+ + +

-newer file

True if the current file has a more recent last modification time +than file.

+ + +

-path pattern

True if the pathname being examined matches pattern. +Special shell pattern matching characters [, ], *, and ? may +be used as part of pattern. These characters may be matched +explicitly by escaping them with a backslash (\). Slashes (/) +are treated as normal characters and do not have to be matched explicitly.

+ + +

-print

This primary always evaluates to true. It prints the pathname of +the current file to standard output. If none of -exec, -ls, -print0, +or -ok is specified, the given expression shall be effectively +replaced by ( given expression ) -print.

+ + +

-print0

This primary always evaluates to true. It prints the pathname of +the current file to standard output, followed by an ASCII NUL character (character +code 0).

+ + +

-printx

This primary always evaluates to true. It prints the pathname of +the current file to standard output in a new line.

+ + +

-prune

This primary always evaluates to true. It causes find to +not descend into the current file. Note, the -prune primary +has no effect if the -d option was specified.

+ + +

-size n[c]

True if the file's size, rounded up, in 512-byte blocks is n. +If n is followed by a c, then the primary +is true if the file's size is n bytes (characters).

+ + +

-type t

True if the file is of the specified type. Possible file types are +as follows:

b: Block special
c: Character +special
d: Directory
f: Regular file
p: FIFO
s: Socket

+ + + +

All primaries which take a numeric argument allow the number to +be preceded by a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-). A preceding +plus sign means more than n, a preceding minus sign means less than +n and neither means exactly n.

Note: The following +primaries are not supported by the Symbian version of the find command:

-exec exe {} +\;
-fstype
-group
-inum
-iregex
-nouser
-nogroup
-perm,
-user

Operators

The primaries may be combined using the +following operators. The operators are listed in order of decreasing precedence.

+ + + +

Operator

Description

+ + + + +

( expression )

This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression evaluates +to true.

+ + +

! expression

This is the unary NOT operator. It evaluates to true if the expression +is false.

+ + +

expression -and expression

The -and operator is the logical AND operator. +As it is implied by the juxtaposition of two expressions it does not have +to be specified. The expression evaluates to true if both expressions are +true. The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is false.

+ + +

expression -or expression

The -or operator is the logical OR operator. The +expression evaluates to true if either the first or the second expression +is true. The second expression is not evaluated if the first expression is +true.

+ + + +

All operands and primaries must be separate arguments to find. +Primaries which themselves take arguments expect each argument to be a separate +argument to find.

For information about documentation +copyrights associated with the find command, see http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/freebsd-doc-license.html.

The +FreeBSD Documentation License

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Redistributions of source +code (SGML DocBook) must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions +and the following disclaimer as the first lines of this file unmodified.
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