Problems searching entire files system.

thekillerbean · 01-01-2006, 06:33 PM

Hello all.

I'm trying to search for a particular entry in a file somewhere on my system and I noticed that 'find' appears stuck on a particular file - /proc/kmsg.

I used the following syntax to search for my text:

Code:

find / -type f -exec grep -iH searchtxt {} \; > ~/foundit 2> /dev/null &

The process has now been running for > 72hrs and a listing of 'ps -ef' reveals the following related processes for the last 21 hrs:

Code:

... find / -type f -exec grep -iH searchtxt {} ;
... grep -iH searchtxt /proc/kmsg

How can I make it search without getting hung on a file?

tia,
kb.

loonix · 01-02-2006, 12:32 AM

On all pc's i have access to I add the following bash script I whipped up. Short, simple and REAL handy.

Code:

#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
        echo "Usage: search [-l] string"
else
        find . -path "/proc" -prune -o -path "/dev" -prune -o -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep -I $1 $2
fi

The optional -l flag is the standard grep -l flag. Just return the filenames or return the matches aswell as the filenames

Regards

lunix_aus
( Mick Pollard )
** Modified code as per 'thekillerbean' **

Munkur · 01-02-2006, 10:36 AM

I do not know why find appears to be stuck. I just wanted to tell LQ readers about Beagle, a program one can use to search file systems:

http://beaglewiki.org/Main_Page

It resembles Google Desktop somewhat.

risu · 01-02-2006, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loonix

On all pc's i have access to I add the following bash script I whipped up. Short, simple and REAL handy.

Code:

#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
        echo "Usage: search [-l] string"
else
        find . -name "/proc" -prune -o -name "/dev" -prune -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep -I $1 $2
fi

The optional -l flag is the standard grep -l flag. Just return the filenames or return the matches aswell as the filenames

Regards

lunix_aus
( Mick Pollard )

I had to correct a few typos to find what I wanted: -name (twice) should be -path and -type should be preceded by another -o. Now it's REAL handy

axobeauvi · 01-02-2006, 01:38 PM

you may want to try locate
it builds a db of all the files on your system
then you can just locate file_name

halvy · 01-02-2006, 03:13 PM

locate is good but you need to make sure it is kept updated with cron or you have to continueally 'updatedb' whenever you add/delete anything.

also you need to make sure you have all the partitians mounted that you want 'considered' in the index (and not stuff like archives and backups) which may be repetitious and time consuming to index.

the locate and updatedb config files are your friends.

Dr_P_Ross · 01-02-2006, 05:04 PM

The reason why the find command hung when searching for some text within /proc/kmsg
is that this is a special file, mainly used by klogd to access system messages. A read
of /proc/kmsg will never end -- you can read more about it in the kernel documentation
in (probably) /usr/src/linux/Documentation/oops-tracing.txt if you have the kernel source installed.

Because /proc contains special files that only provide information about, and control of, processes
and devices, you probably don't want to even bother looking at those files when searching your filesystem for files that contain some text of interest to you. So the simplest remedy is to use find's "-prune" option to omit that whole filesystem subtree from the search.

Cheers,

Peter Ross

loonix · 01-02-2006, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by risu

I had to correct a few typos to find what I wanted: -name (twice) should be -path and -type should be preceded by another -o. Now it's REAL handy

Glad it has helped you out. I use it all the time. What I pasted above is exactly how I use it on my system and it works fine. Can you post what mods you did. i would be interested seeing it.

Cheers
lunix_aus
( Mick Pollard )

thekillerbean · 01-02-2006, 11:12 PM

Thank you all so much. My sanity has returned!

kb.

thekillerbean · 01-03-2006, 11:34 PM

Unfortunately, it appears that the solution above, really a modified version of the solution:

Code:

find . -name "/proc" -prune -o -name "/dev" -prune -type f -exec grep -iH searchtxt {} \; \
     > ~/foundit 2> /dev/null &

still resulted in a hung find process with grep showing:

Code:

grep -iH searchtxt /proc/kmsg

I'll create the script you have above and leave it running overnight.

thekillerbean · 01-03-2006, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by risu

I had to correct a few typos to find what I wanted: -name (twice) should be -path and -type should be preceded by another -o. Now it's REAL handy

Dang it, I just saw this response after posting. Now I know why it did not work!

To loonix:

Please modify your original post so that others may benefit from a properly formated find command!

All's well that ends well anyway.

Thanks.

loonix · 01-04-2006, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by axobeauvi

you may want to try locate
it builds a db of all the files on your system
then you can just locate file_name

locate will not do what was originally asked here. Locate will find a file with a match in the "filename"
What this thread is about is searching for a string INSIDE of files.

risu · 02-03-2006, 08:29 AM

Better late than never, here is my modified version of the search script:

#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
echo "Usage: search [-l] string"
else
find . -path "/proc" -prune -o -path "/dev" -prune -o -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep -I $1 $2
fi