(find.info)Introduction

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1 Introduction
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This manual shows how to find files that meet criteria you specify, and
how to perform various actions on the files that you find.  The
principal programs that you use to perform these tasks are 'find',
'locate', and 'xargs'.  Some of the examples in this manual use
capabilities specific to the GNU versions of those programs.

   GNU 'find' was originally written by Eric Decker, with enhancements
by David MacKenzie, Jay Plett, and Tim Wood.  GNU 'xargs' was originally
written by Mike Rendell, with enhancements by David MacKenzie.  GNU
'locate' and its associated utilities were originally written by James
Woods, with enhancements by David MacKenzie.  The idea for 'find
-print0' and 'xargs -0' came from Dan Bernstein.  The current maintainer
of GNU findutils (and this manual) is James Youngman.  Many other people
have contributed bug fixes, small improvements, and helpful suggestions.
Thanks!

   To report a bug in GNU findutils, please use the form on the Savannah
web site at 'https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=findutils'.  Reporting
bugs this way means that you will then be able to track progress in
fixing the problem.

   If you don't have web access, you can also just send mail to the
mailing list.  The mailing list <bug-findutils@gnu.org> carries
discussion of bugs in findutils, questions and answers about the
software and discussion of the development of the programs.  To join the
list, send email to <bug-findutils-request@gnu.org>.

   Please read any relevant sections of this manual before asking for
help on the mailing list.  You may also find it helpful to read the
NON-BUGS section of the 'find' manual page.

   If you ask for help on the mailing list, people will be able to help
you much more effectively if you include the following things:

   * The version of the software you are running.  You can find this out
     by running 'locate --version'.
   * What you were trying to do
   * The _exact_ command line you used
   * The _exact_ output you got (if this is very long, try to find a
     smaller example which exhibits the same problem)
   * The output you expected to get

   It may also be the case that the bug you are describing has already
been fixed, if it is a bug.  Please check the most recent findutils
releases at <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/findutils> and, if possible, the
development branch at <ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/findutils>.  If you take
the time to check that your bug still exists in current releases, this
will greatly help people who want to help you solve your problem.
Please also be aware that if you obtained findutils as part of the
GNU/Linux 'distribution', the distributions often lag seriously behind
findutils releases, even the stable release.  Please check the GNU FTP
site.

Scope

Overview

find Expressions