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Below are summaries of the command line syntax for the programs
discussed in this manual.
find [file...] [expression]
find searches the directory tree rooted at each file name
file by evaluating the expression on each file it finds in
the tree.
find considers the first argument that begins with `-',
`(', `)', `,', or `!' to be the beginning of the
expression; any arguments before it are paths to search, and any
arguments after it are the rest of the expression. If no paths are
given, the current directory is used. If no expression is given, the
expression `-print' is used.
find exits with status 0 if all files are processed successfully,
greater than 0 if errors occur.
See section find Primary Index, for a summary of all of the tests, actions, and
options that the expression can contain.
find also recognizes two options for administrative use:
--help
- Print a summary of the command-line argument format and exit.
--version
- Print the version number of
find and exit.
locate [option...] pattern...
--database=path
-d path
- Instead of searching the default file name database, search the file
name databases in path, which is a colon-separated list of
database file names. You can also use the environment variable
LOCATE_PATH to set the list of database files to search. The
option overrides the environment variable if both are used.
--help
- Print a summary of the options to
locate and exit.
--version
- Print the version number of
locate and exit.
updatedb [option...]
--localpaths='path...'
- Non-network directories to put in the database.
Default is `/'.
--netpaths='path...'
- Network (NFS, AFS, RFS, etc.) directories to put in the database.
Default is none.
--prunepaths='path...'
- Directories to not put in the database, which would otherwise be.
Default is `/tmp /usr/tmp /var/tmp /afs'.
--output=dbfile
- The database file to build.
Default is system-dependent, but typically `/usr/local/var/locatedb'.
--netuser=user
- The user to search network directories as, using
su(1).
Default is daemon.
xargs [option...] [command [initial-arguments]]
xargs exits with the following status:
- 0
- if it succeeds
- 123
- if any invocation of the command exited with status 1-125
- 124
- if the command exited with status 255
- 125
- if the command is killed by a signal
- 126
- if the command cannot be run
- 127
- if the command is not found
- 1
- if some other error occurred.
--null
-0
- Input filenames are terminated by a null character instead of by
whitespace, and the quotes and backslash are not special (every
character is taken literally). Disables the end of file string, which
is treated like any other argument.
--eof[=eof-str]
-e[eof-str]
- Set the end of file string to eof-str. If the end of file string
occurs as a line of input, the rest of the input is ignored. If
eof-str is omitted, there is no end of file string. If this
option is not given, the end of file string defaults to `_'.
--help
- Print a summary of the options to
xargs and exit.
--replace[=replace-str]
-i[replace-str]
- Replace occurences of replace-str in the initial arguments with
names read from standard input. Also, unquoted blanks do not terminate
arguments. If replace-str is omitted, it defaults to `{}'
(like for `find -exec'). Implies `-x' and `-l 1'.
--max-lines[=max-lines]
-l[max-lines]
- Use at most max-lines nonblank input lines per command line;
max-lines defaults to 1 if omitted. Trailing blanks cause an
input line to be logically continued on the next input line, for the
purpose of counting the lines. Implies `-x'.
--max-args=max-args
-n max-args
- Use at most max-args arguments per command line. Fewer than
max-args arguments will be used if the size (see the `-s'
option) is exceeded, unless the `-x' option is given, in which case
xargs will exit.
--interactive
-p
- Prompt the user about whether to run each command line and read a line
from the terminal. Only run the command line if the response starts
with `y' or `Y'. Implies `-t'.
--no-run-if-empty
-r
- If the standard input does not contain any nonblanks, do not run the
command. By default, the command is run once even if there is no input.
--max-chars=max-chars
-s max-chars
- Use at most max-chars characters per command line, including the
command and initial arguments and the terminating nulls at the ends of
the argument strings.
--verbose
-t
- Print the command line on the standard error output before executing
it.
--version
- Print the version number of
xargs and exit.
--exit
-x
- Exit if the size (see the -s option) is exceeded.
--max-procs=max-procs
-P max-procs
- Run up to max-procs processes at a time; the default is 1. If
max-procs is 0,
xargs will run as many processes as
possible at a time.
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