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how to execute -depth in find command

hi all,

within my bobje directory, I have many directories and some log files . I want to delete those log files without traversing the subdirectories.

so i performed these commands and getting the mentioned errors.

$ find /optware/boste/xir2sp4/bnbodvg/bobje -name \*.log -maxdepth 0 -exec ls -l {} \;
find: bad option -maxdepth
$ find /optware/boste/xir2sp4/bnbodvg/bobje -name \*.log -depth 0 -exec ls -l {} \;
find: missing conjunction
$ find /optware/boste/xir2sp4/bnbodvg/bobje -name \*.log -depth 0 -exec ls -l `{}` \;
ksh: {}: not found
find: missing conjunction

regards
shravee

The missing conjunction usually occurs when it doesn't understand your pattern. Try "*.log" in quotes like that.

I have learned to ALWAYS quote the search string used with -name.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixellany (Post 3945587)

I have learned to ALWAYS quote the search string used with -name.

Yep Linux seems to almost always require it. Other *NIXes not so much though on occasion they don't like something and quoting helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MensaWater (Post 3945591)

Yep Linux seems to almost always require it. Other *NIXes not so much though on occasion they don't like something and quoting helps.

AFAIK, it's not a Linux vs. *nix thing. The issue is how characters are read by the shell vs. a specific utility.

In BASH, "*" means almost literally "whatever is lying around". This is why:
find <path> -name *stuf
blows up more often than not. Any shell using wildcards is prone to similar issues.

You'd think that is the case but I run into it almost always on Linux and only in certain cases on HP-UX. However, I run into it often enough either way that these days I tend to always put quotes around it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shravee (Post 3945455)

within my bobje directory, I have many directories and some log files . I want to delete those log files without traversing the subdirectories.

Which OS and which version of find are you running? Since it does not accept the -maxdepth option, most likely it's not GNU find.

Regarding the -depth option, it does not accept any argument. It is intended to process the content of a directory before the directory itself, for example

Code:

$ ls ./test

myfile readme

$ find .

.

./test

./test/readme

./test/myfile

$ find . -depth

./test/readme

./test/myfile

./test

.

this is useful when using find in conjunction with some archiving applications, like cpio or tar. Despite its name, this option does not affect how deeply you descend into a directory tree.

I don't know about a simple way to avoid traversing subdirectories in non-GNU find versions, but if your task is to remove log files in /optware/boste/xir2sp4/bnbodvg/bobje, why not simply

Code:

rm /optware/boste/xir2sp4/bnbodvg/bobje/*.log

or am I missing something?

Quote:

This is just because in linux the default shell is bash (or sometimes sh), while on other systems other shells may be default.

A little add-on. Here is a not simple way to avoid descending into subdirectories in non-GNU versions of find (maybe...):

Code:

find /optware/boste/xir2sp4/bnbodvg/bobje/* -type d -prune -o -name '*.log' -exec ls -l {} \;