ls -l applied only on files found with find

vincix · 07-12-2017, 09:29 AM

Hi,
I'm running this command:

Code:

find . -mtime -1 -exec ls -l {} \;

But instead of applying ls -l only on files modified in the last 24 hours, it lists all files in the current directory. How can I make list only the files found by find?

TB0ne · 07-12-2017, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincix

Hi,
I'm running this command:

Code:

find . -mtime -1 -exec ls -l {} \;

But instead of applying ls -l only on files modified in the last 24 hours, it lists all files in the current directory. How can I make list only the files found by find?

Try the man page for the find command; look at the '-ls' option, which may do what you want. There are also options to have find use printf to return whatever you're after.

Turbocapitalist · 07-12-2017, 10:11 AM

My guess is that it is also finding directories that have been modified within the time limit, including the current directory "."

So try adding "-type f" in the formula near the beginning. Again, see "man find" frequently

vincix · 07-12-2017, 10:39 AM

Actually in the respective directory there are only files.

Code:

echo $pwd
/opt/zimbra/store/0/2/msg/0
find . -mtime -1
.
./1941-59511.msg
./1942-59643.msg
./1943-59647.msg
./1944-59648.msg
./1945-59649.msg
./1946-59650.msg
./1947-59739.msg
./1948-59740.msg
./1949-59741.msg

In the manual I did find out that there's a direct option called "-ls", which indeed does display only the files found by find. The problem is that it imposes a certain format, and I'd have liked to use ls options.

Turbocapitalist · 07-12-2017, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincix

Actually in the respective directory there are only files.

Code:

echo $pwd
/opt/zimbra/store/0/2/msg/0
find . -mtime -1
.

That first item, the period there, is a directory. Try limiting the search to regular files only as suggested above.

Code:

find . -type f -mtime -1 -print;

rtmistler · 07-12-2017, 10:54 AM

Besides avoiding directories, the -exec will only operate on the records found, by the find command.

Are you saying that you do not believe this to be the case? For instance are you saying that you're seeing files last modified beyond up to 24 hours ago?

Note also that I do not believe you are supposed to be using a MINUS 1.

Your original code:

Code:

find . -mtime -1 -exec ls -l {} \;

Quote:

-mtime n
File's data was last modified n*24 hours ago.

TB0ne · 07-12-2017, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincix

Actually in the respective directory there are only files.

Code:

echo $pwd
/opt/zimbra/store/0/2/msg/0
find . -mtime -1
.
./1941-59511.msg
./1942-59643.msg
./1943-59647.msg
./1944-59648.msg
./1945-59649.msg
./1946-59650.msg
./1947-59739.msg
./1948-59740.msg
./1949-59741.msg

In the manual I did find out that there's a direct option called "-ls", which indeed does display only the files found by find. The problem is that it imposes a certain format, and I'd have liked to use ls options.

No, because again, the man page for find has options for using printf, to return whatever you'd like:

Code:

-printf format
%M     File's permissions (in symbolic form, as for ls).  This directive is supported in findutils 4.2.5 and later.
%u     File's user name, or numeric user ID if the user has no name.
%g     File's group name, or numeric group ID if the group has no name.
%s     File's size in bytes.
%Ak    File's last access time in the format specified by k, which is either `@' or a directive for the C `strftime' function.
%f     File's name with any leading directories removed (only the last element).

...which is pretty much what an "ls -l" would give you:

Code:

drwxr-xr-x 2 username usergorup  4096 Jul 12 09:38 DIRNAME

"man find"

aragorn2101 · 07-13-2017, 01:42 AM

Hi,

The thing is when you do

Code:

find . -mtime -1 -exec ls -l {} \;

It also finds the current directory "./" to have changed, and "./" as an argument to ls -l will list you the whole directory. So you need to exclude the current directory from the search results, like this:

Code:

find . ! -path . -mtime -1 -exec ls -l {} \;

astrogeek · 07-13-2017, 02:22 AM

As first mentioned by Turbocapitalist and repeated by others, just try the -type f.

Change this...

Code:

find . -mtime -1 -exec ls -l {} \;

...to this...

Code:

find . -type f -mtime -1 -exec ls -l {} \;

That will show all files modified within the last 24 hours, as requested.

The reason this works is already stated above... give it a try!

vincix · 07-13-2017, 02:31 AM

Thank you all for your answers. Really helpful, and thank you aragon for explaining exactly what is going on.

Do you agree with rtmistler statement that I shouldn't be using minus 1? I don't really see why, because it obviously prints different information (-1 means displaying files that were changed in the last 24 hours).
@rtmistler Yes, if I simply run find . -mtime -1, then it will only display files that were changed in the last 24 hours. If I add -exec -ls -l {} \, then it will display all files - this is already explained in the posts above. And yes, now it makes sense.

Turbocapitalist · 07-13-2017, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincix

Do you agree with rtmistler statement that I shouldn't be using minus 1?

Yes. You should avoid parsing output from ls. TB0ne mentioned using the printf function built into find itself. With it you can get just the data you want about the files:

Code:

. . .  -printf "%u\t%g\t%AY%Am%Ad\t%AH:%AM:%AS\t%-10s\t%f\n"

See

Code:

man find

vincix · 07-13-2017, 03:00 AM

So rtmistler was talking only in the context of parsing output from ls? I was actually asking if "find . -mtime -1" by itself is a legitimate command.

Turbocapitalist · 07-13-2017, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincix

So rtmistler was talking only in the context of parsing output from ls? I was actually asking if "find . -mtime -1" by itself is a legitimate command.

rtmistler was referring to -mtime. I got the posts mixed but still emphasize avoiding ls

With -mtime, compare the following:

Code:

find . -type f -mtime -1 -print;
find . -type f -mtime  1 -print;
find . -type f -mtime +1 -print;

Also take a look at -daystart in the manual to see if that is of any use.

Code:

man find

vincix · 07-13-2017, 04:20 AM

Yes, I know the difference, but what intrigued me was rtmistler saying that. I didn't know why he'd think I shouldn't be using "-mtime -1"

rtmistler · 07-13-2017, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincix

Yes, I know the difference, but what intrigued me was rtmistler saying that. I didn't know why he'd think I shouldn't be using "-mtime -1"

I was incorrect with that assumption. The documentation seemed to imply that it already does a minus, and that was what I cited. However in testing, you do need to use the minus, and perhaps the documentation is clear and just not my interpretation of it. As Turbocapitalist cites, try each out and you shall see.