(find.info)Warning Messages

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8.1.2 Warning Messages
----------------------

If there is an error on the 'find' command line, an error message is
normally issued.  However, there are some usages that are inadvisable
but which 'find' should still accept.  Under these circumstances, 'find'
may issue a warning message.

   By default, warnings are enabled only if 'find' is being run
interactively (specifically, if the standard input is a terminal) and
the 'POSIXLY_CORRECT' environment variable is not set.  Warning messages
can be controlled explicitly by the use of options on the command line:

'-warn'
     Issue warning messages where appropriate.
'-nowarn'
     Do not issue warning messages.

   These options take effect at the point on the command line where they
are specified.  Therefore it's not useful to specify '-nowarn' at the
end of the command line.  The warning messages affected by the above
options are triggered by:

   - Use of the '-d' option which is deprecated; please use '-depth'
     instead, since the latter is POSIX-compliant.
   - Specifying an option (for example '-mindepth') after a non-option
     (for example '-type' or '-print') on the command line.
   - Use of the '-name' or '-iname' option with a slash character in the
     pattern.  Since the name predicates only compare against the
     basename of the visited files, the only file that can match a slash
     is the root directory itself.

   The default behaviour above is designed to work in that way so that
existing shell scripts don't generate spurious errors, but people will
be made aware of the problem.

   Some warning messages are issued for less common or more serious
problems, and consequently cannot be turned off:

   - Use of an unrecognised backslash escape sequence with '-fprintf'
   - Use of an unrecognised formatting directive with '-fprintf'