find -exec option and xargs

devUnix · 09-26-2011, 05:26 AM

How to display only the "found" file names in this scenario:

Code:

[demo@localhost Perl]$ find . -mtime -17 -exec "file" \{\} \;
.: directory
./hi: empty
./try.pl: a /usr/bin/perl script text executable
./hey.pl: a /usr/bin/perl script text executable

Code:

[demo@localhost Perl]$ find . -mtime -17 -exec "ls -l" \{\} \;
find: `ls -l': No such file or directory
find: `ls -l': No such file or directory
find: `ls -l': No such file or directory
find: `ls -l': No such file or directory

Code:

[demo@localhost Perl]$ find . -mtime -17 -exec 'ls -l' \{\} \;
find: `ls -l': No such file or directory
find: `ls -l': No such file or directory
find: `ls -l': No such file or directory
find: `ls -l': No such file or directory
[demo@localhost Perl]$

?

I am trying to long-list the names of the files which have been created or otherwise modified / changed during the last 17 days.

Code:

[demo@localhost Perl]$ find . -mtime -17 -print | xargs 'file'
.:        directory
./hi:     empty
./try.pl: a /usr/bin/perl script text executable
./hey.pl: a /usr/bin/perl script text executable

Code:

[demo@localhost Perl]$ find . -mtime -17 -print | xargs 'ls -l'
xargs: ls -l: No such file or directory

I seem to have forgotten the correct syntax.

I do have a way to do that, though:

Code:

[demo@localhost Perl]$ ls -ltr | grep -w Sep | awk '{if($7 >=2) print $0}'
-rw-rw-r--. 1 demo demo 125 Sep  9 10:25 hey.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo  72 Sep  9 14:55 try.pl
-rw-rw-r--. 1 demo demo   0 Sep 26 04:56 hi
[demo@localhost Perl]$

colucix · 09-26-2011, 06:04 AM

If you embed the command in quotes, it will be interpreted literally as ls<space><minus>l and obviuosly you don't have an executable whit such a name. Just remove the enclosing quotes and it should be fine.

tange · 09-26-2011, 09:09 AM

Have a look at GNU Parallel. It should behave less surprising than -exec and xargs.

Watch the intro video to learn more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpaiGYxkSuQ

sundialsvcs · 09-26-2011, 10:34 AM

Also note that some implementations of "find" are not exactly the same. Linux and OS/X (Darwin) vary in subtle ways.

devUnix · 09-27-2011, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

If you embed the command in quotes, it will be interpreted literally as ls<space><minus>l and obviuosly you don't have an executable whit such a name. Just remove the enclosing quotes and it should be fine.

Code:

[demo@localhost Perl]$ find . -mtime -17 -exec ls -l \{\} \;
total 88
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo    75 Aug 19 14:51 array.pl
-rw-rw-r--. 1 demo demo 12121 Sep 27 07:20 data.log
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo   204 Aug 21 13:58 dbmopen.pl
...
<Output Truncated>
...
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo   140 Aug 22 04:45 sentence_case_regex.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo   169 Aug 19 07:11 sub_1.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo   203 Aug 19 16:11 sub_2.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo    57 Aug 21 13:41 time.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo   160 Aug 19 16:03 tr.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo    72 Sep  9 14:55 try.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo   148 Aug 19 07:32 while.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo    43 Aug 19 14:42 withoutSemicolon.pl
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 demo demo    63 Aug 22 09:57 x.pl
-rw-rw-r--. 1 demo demo 64 Sep 27 07:40 ./hello
-rw-rw-r--. 1 demo demo 0 Sep 26 04:56 ./hi
-rw-rw-r--. 1 demo demo 12121 Sep 27 07:20 ./data.log
-rw-rw-r--. 1 demo demo 23 Sep 26 08:05 ./hel
[demo@localhost Perl]$

You see ls -l is not working as expected or at least as desired.

rknichols · 09-27-2011, 09:31 AM

The first thing your 'find' command will see is ".", and "ls -l ." will list contents of the current directory. This would be more obvious if you added the "-d" option to the 'ls' command:

Code:

find . -mtime -17 -exec ls -ld \{\} \;

colucix · 09-27-2011, 10:31 AM

As rknichols pointed out, the ls -l command works as expected. It lists files in the current working directory and list the content of every directory (the same as you can obtain running ls -l dirname from the command line). What do you want to get actually? Do you know that find has the -ls action?

Code:

find . -mtime -17 -ls