About
Search, print information and takes actions on files in a directory hierarchy.
Find use stat to extract its information
File Status = File Metadata
Synopsis/Syntax
find [-H] [-L] [-P] [path...] [options] [^(-|(|)|,|!)argument....]
| Synbol | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| '-H', '-L' and '-P' | options control the treatment of symbolic links | |
| path | current directory | names of files or directories to be examined |
| ^(-|(|)|,|!)argument.... | -print (consider -print0) | expression describing what is to be searched for. The argument expressions begins with ‘-’, ‘(’, ‘)’, ‘,’, or ‘!’ |
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),
- actions (which have side effects and return a true or false value), all separated by operators.
- operators. -and is assumed where the operator is omitted. The POSIX standard specifies parentheses ‘(’, ‘)’, negation ‘!’ and the ‘and’ and ‘or’ operators (‘-a’, ‘-o’).
Filtering
Tree Level
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Level | ||
| -maxdepth levels | Option | Descend at most levels (a non-negative integer) levels of directories below the command line arguments. '-maxdepth 0' means only apply the tests and actions to the command line arguments. |
| -mindepth levels | Option | 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. |
Time
This section shows the filter based directly on the date metadata
| Time | ||
|---|---|---|
| Argument | Type | Description |
| Access time filter (axxx options) | ||
| -amin n | Test | File was last accessed n minutes ago. See File’s status |
| -anewer file | Test | File was last accessed more recently than file was modified. See File’s status |
| -atime n | Test | File was last accessed n*24 hours ago. See File’s status |
| Changed time filter (cxxx options) | ||
| -cmin n | Test | File’s status was last changed n minutes ago. |
| -cnewer file | Test | File’s status was last changed more recently than file was modified. |
| -ctime n | Test | File’s status was last changed n*24 hours ago. |
| Modify time filter (mxxx options) | ||
| -mmin n | Test | File's data was last modified n minutes ago. |
| -mtime n | File's data was last modified n*24 hours ago. | |
Name
| File name | ||
|---|---|---|
| Argument | Type | Description |
| -name pattern | Test | Base of file name |
Example
Search from the current directory
find . -name 'pattern'
where:
- the point specify to search from the current directory (in or below)
- the pattern is a regexp pattern of the file name
Search by file name
Search for any file named root.sh in or below the directory /my/directory.
find /my/directory -name root.sh
Search for any file beginning with default
find /my/directory -name default*
The metacharacters (‘*’, ‘?’, and ‘[]’) match a ‘.’ at the start of the base name.
Listing recursively file information
find . -printf "%p %u %g %M %a %c\n"
# for sizing
echo "Relative_Path,Depth,Leading_Dir,Size_in_Byte,User_Name,Last_access_time,Last_change_time" > diskInfo.csv
find . -printf '"%p","%d","%h","%s","%u","%AY-%Am-%Ad","%CY-%Cm-%Cd"\n' >> diskInfo.csv
where:
Path:
- %p is the full qualified path
- %P is the relative path
- %d File’s depth in the directory tree; 0 means the file is a command line argument.
- %h Leading directories of file’s name (all but the last element).
Size:
- %k The amount of disk space used for this file in 1K blocks
- %s File’s size in bytes.
User/Security
- %u is the user. File’s user name, or numeric user ID if the user has no name
- %g is the group
- %M and %m are permissions (respectively in symbolic form as ls and octal form)
Time:
- %a is the File’s last access time. See %Ak to specify a date format. Example: %AY-%Am-%Ad - YYYY-MM-DD
- %c is the File’s last status change time. See %Ck to specify a date format
- %t File’s last modification time in the format returned by the C ‘ctime’ function.
Search newer file
-newer file: File was modified more recently than file. If file is a symbolic link and the -H option or the -L option is in effect, the modification time of the file it points to is always used.
touch -d '2011-12-31 10:22' foo
find . -newer foo
Action on file with exec
Syntax:
find -exec command {} \;
find -exec command {} \+
where:
- \ in \; is an escape sequence. ; is the end of the exec command not of the find command.
- {} is a placeholder for the filename found.
- + will make only one command invocation
Example:
- Remove the directory named “jsp_servlet”
find . -name "jsp_servlet" -exec rmdir {} \;
- Moving all library file
find . -type f -iname '*.so' -exec mv -t ./test/ {} \+