 |  |
9.13. Searching for Files by Type
If you are only interested in files of a certain type, use the -type argument, followed by one of the characters in Table 9-1. Note, though that some versions of find don't have all of these.
Table 9-1. find -type characters
|
Character |
Meaning |
|---|---|
|
c |
Block special file ("device file") |
|
c |
Character special file ("device file") |
|
d |
Directory |
|
f |
Plain file |
|
l |
Symbolic link |
|
p |
Named pipe file |
|
s |
Socket |
Unless you are a system administrator, the important types are directories, plain files, or symbolic links (i.e., types d, f, or l).
Using the -type operator, here is another way to list files recursively:
% find . -type f -print | xargs ls -l
It can be difficult to keep track of all the symbolic links in a directory. The next command will find all the symbolic links in your home directory and print the files to which your symbolic links point. $NF gives the last field of each line, which holds the name to which a symlink points. If your find doesn't have a -ls operator, pipe to xargs ls -l as previously.
% find $HOME -type l -ls | awk '{print $NF}'-- BB
|  | |
| 9.12. Finding Many Things with One Command |  | 9.14. Searching for Files by Size |
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