find

find: search for files in a directory tree.

Synopsis

find [path…] [expression]

Description

find walks the directory tree under each path and prints, one a line, every path that matches all the tests in the expression, the starting point included. With no path, it starts at .; with no tests, it prints everything.

The paths are the arguments before the first one that starts with - or is !. Symbolic links are never followed (as GNU find’s -P): a link is listed as a link, and not walked into.

Expression

All the tests must hold, as if joined by -a.

-name pattern: The last part of the path matches the shell pattern (*, ?, […], as sh(1) globs).
-iname pattern: Like -name, ignoring case.
-path pattern: The whole path, as printed, matches the shell pattern; here * matches / too.
-type c: The file is of type c: f a regular file, d a directory, l a symbolic link.
-not, !: Turns the next test around.
-maxdepth n: Descend at most n levels below the starting points (0: the starting points only). It applies wherever it appears.
-mindepth n: Print nothing less than n levels below the starting points.
-print: Print the path; what find does anyway.

Exit status

0 on success; 1 if a path could not be read, or for a bad expression.

Examples

find /lib -name "*.lua"
find . -type d -maxdepth 2
find /home ! -iname "*.txt"

Notes

There is no -o, no parentheses, and no actions besides -print (no -exec or -delete). A starting point cannot begin with -.