find (target)
Find files (POSIX, toybox)
Syntax:
find [-HL] [dir...] [options]
Runs on:
QNX OS
Options:
- -H
- Follow command line symbolic links.
- -L
- Follow all symbolic links.
- dir
- The pathname of a directory in which find looks for files.
Description:
The find utility recursively descends the directory hierarchy for each file specified by path and seeks files that match operand_expression.
The operand expression follows one or more pathnames. The find utility treats as a pathname all the arguments up to the first one starting with any of these characters:
- ! (
Everything after that is part of the operand expression.
The primaries may be combined with the following operators. The operators are listed in order of decreasing precedence:
| Operator | Action |
|---|---|
| (expression) | True if expression is true. |
| ! expression | (NOT) Negation of a primary or expression enclosed in parentheses. |
| expression [-a] expression | (AND) True if both expressions are true. |
| expression [-o] expression | (OR) True if either expression is true. |
Primary expressions
Whenever a primary expression uses a number (n), you can optionally
precede it by a plus (+) or minus (-) sign, which changes
the meaning as follows:
| Expression | Means |
|---|---|
| +n | More than n |
| -n | Less than n |
| n | Exactly n |
- -atimen[u]
- File was accessed n units ago. The possible time units are shown
in the table below:
Time unit Meaning d Days (default) h Hours m Minutes s Seconds - -contextpattern
- Security context of the file matches pattern.
- -ctime n[u]
- File was created n units ago. For time units, see -atime.
- -depth
- (POSIX) Always true; causes descent of the directory hierarchy to be done so that all entries in the directory are acted on before the directory itself. If no -depth primary is specified, all entries in the directory are acted on after the directory itself. If any -depth primary is specified, it applies to the entire expression, even if the -depth primary isn't normally evaluated.
- -empty
- True if the file is a regular file of size zero, or a directory that contains no files.
- -executable
- Access (X_OK) permissions and access control list (ACL).
- -false
- Always false.
- -group group
- True if the file belongs to the group group.
- iname
- Ignore case -name.
- inum n
- True if the file has inode number n.
- -ipath
- Ignore case -path.
- -links n
- File has n hard links.
- -maxdepth n
- When this flag is set, find descends at most n directory levels down.
- -mindepth n
- When this flag is set, find doesn't apply any expressions unless they're at least n directory levels down.
- -mtime n[u]
- True if the file was modified n units ago. For time units, see -atime.
- -name pattern
- True if the basename of the filename being examined matches a wildcard pattern.
- -newer file
- True if the current file has a newer modification time than file.
- -newerXY file
- True if the timestamp of the current file (X) is newer than the
timestamp of the specified file (Y).Not all combinations of X or Y are supported or valid.
X or Y value Meaning aAccess time BBirth time cInode status change time mModification time t(Y only)file is interpreted as a time string; for valid formats, see date (target).
- -nogroup
- True if the file belongs to a group ID that isn't known.
- -nouser
- True if the file belongs to a user ID that isn't known.
- -path pattern
- True if the pathname being examined matches a wildcard pattern.
- -perm [- | /] mode
- Any of the permission bits mode are set for the file.
- - = min
- / = any
- -prune
- Causes find to ignore directory contents.
- -quit
- Causes find to exit immediately.
- -readable
- Access (R_OK) permissions and access control list (ACL).
- -samefile file
- True if the file is a hard link to file.
- -size n [c]
- True if the file size in bytes, divided by 512 and rounded up to the next integer, is n. If n is followed by c the size is in bytes.
- -true
- Always true.
- -type [c]
- True if the file type is c where c is one
of:
Filetype Function b Block special file c Character special file d Directory f Regular file l Symbolic link p FIFO s Socket - -user uname
- True if file belongs to the user uname.
- -xdev
- Always true—stops find from descending past directories that have a different device ID.
Actions:
- -delete
- Remove matching files and directories.
- -exec
- Run command with path. The string
{}is substituted by the current file name being processed. End the command with a semicolon (;) to run each file, or plus (+) sign to collect and run multiple files. - -execdir
- Run command in files directory.
- -ok
- Similar to -exec but find asks the user before executing.
- okdir
- Similar to -execdir but find asks the user before executing.
- Prints the current filename to standard output, followed by a new line.
- -printf format
- Print data pertaining to the file currently being evaluated to the standard output, according to the format string.
- -print0
- Print the current filename to standard output, followed by a null character.
Formatted Printing
The -printf
primary requires a format string as its arguments. The format string consists of regular
ASCII characters and a set of special codes starting with percent (%)
format codes and backslash (\) escape codes.
%b- 512-byte blocks used.
%f- Basename.
%G- Numeric group ID.
%g- Textual group ID.
%i- Decimal inode.
%l- Target of symlink.
%M- Format type or mode of ls.
%m- Octal mode.
%P- Path to file minus dir.
%p- Path to file.
%s- Size in bytes.
%T@- Mod time as unixtime.
%U- Numeric user ID.
%u- Username.
%Z- Security context.
This utility is provided as part of the toybox package. For information on how to enable it, see toybox.
Contributing author:
Rob Landley and the toybox project (see https://landley.net/toybox/).