[SOLVED] Question on the placement of {} when using -exec with find

JockVSJock · 10-29-2017, 09:25 AM

So I'm still not clear on what this means when using find and -exec

Code:

{}

Is this some sort of regular expression?

Also I've noticed that {} has to be placed in different locations in order for it to work correctly, for example.

Code:

useradd -c "mary" mary 

find /-user mary

find / -user mary -exec rm -rf {} \;

*** VS ***

Code:

useradd -c "mary" mary

find / -user mary 

mkdir -p /root/mary_backup

find / -user mary -exec -cp rpfv {} /root/mary_backup \;

For the 1st example {} comes right after the rm -rf, and before the \;.

For the 2nd example, {} comes right after the command cp -rpfv but before the \;. I'm not sure why.

thanks

ntubski · 10-29-2017, 09:29 AM

man find:

Code:

       -exec command ;
              Execute command; true if 0 status is returned.  All following
              arguments to find are taken to be arguments to the command until
              an argument consisting of `;' is encountered.  The string `{}' is
              replaced by the current file name being processed everywhere it
              occurs in the arguments to the command, [...]

Beryllos · 10-29-2017, 10:36 AM

In other words, {} represents the found file name where it needs to go in the command to be executed.

JockVSJock · 10-29-2017, 11:40 AM

I've never had a great understanding of this, what does argument mean?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntubski

man find:

Code:

       -exec command ;
              Execute command; true if 0 status is returned.  All following
              arguments to find are taken to be arguments to the command until
              an argument consisting of `;' is encountered.  The string `{}' is
              replaced by the current file name being processed everywhere it
              occurs in the arguments to the command, [...]

ntubski · 10-29-2017, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JockVSJock

I've never had a great understanding of this, what does argument mean?

when you run a command like

Code:

rm -rf foo

You are passing -rf and foo as the arguments (also known as parameters) to the command rm.