.TH BFS 1 .SH NAME bfs \- breadth-first search for your files .SH SYNOPSIS .B bfs .RB [ flags ...] .RI [ paths ...] .RB [ expression ...] .PP flags .RB ( \-H / \-L / \-P etc.), .IR paths , and .B expressions may be freely mixed in any order. .SH DESCRIPTION .B bfs is a breadth-first version of the UNIX .BR find (1) command. .PP .B bfs supports almost every feature from every major .BR find (1) implementation, so your existing command lines should work as-is. It also adds some features of its own, such as a more forgiving command line parser and some additional options. .PP Each .I path specified on the command line is treated as a starting path to search through. If no paths are specified, the current directory .RI ( . ) is searched by default. .PP Like .BR find (1), .B bfs interprets its arguments as a short-circuiting Boolean expression. For example, .PP .nf .RS .B bfs \\\( \-name '*.txt' \-or \-lname '*.txt' \\\\) \-and \-print .RE .fi .PP will print the all the paths that are either .txt files or symbolic links to .txt files. .B \-and is implied between two consecutive expressions, so this is equivalent: .PP .nf .RS .B bfs \\\( \-name '*.txt' \-or \-lname '*.txt' \\\\) \-print .RE .fi .PP Finally, .B \-print is implied if no actions are specified, so this too is equivalent: .PP .nf .RS .B bfs \-name '*.txt' \-or \-lname '*.txt' .RE .fi .PP Most options that take a numeric argument .I N will also accept .I \-N or .IR +N . .IR \-N means "less than .IR N ," and .I +N means "greater than .IR N ." .SH FLAGS .TP .B \-H Follow symbolic links on the command line, but not while searching. .TP .B \-L Follow all symbolic links. .TP .B \-P Never follow symbolic links (the default). .TP .B \-E Use extended regular expressions (same as \fB\-regextype posix-extended\fR). .TP .B \-X Filter out files with .RB non- xargs (1)-safe names. .TP .B \-d Search in post-order (same as .BR \-depth ). .TP .B \-s Visit directory entries in sorted order. The sorting takes place within each directory separately, which makes it different from .B bfs ... | .BR sort , but still provides a deterministic ordering. .TP .B \-x Don't descend into other mount points (same as \fB\-xdev\fR). .TP \fB\-f \fIPATH\fR Treat .I PATH as a path to search (useful if it begins with a dash). .PP .TP \fB\-D \fIFLAG\fR Turn on a debugging flag (see .B \-D .IR help ). .PP \fB\-O\fIN\fR .RS Enable optimization level .I N (default: .IR 3 ). .TP .BI \-O 0 Disable all optimizations. .TP .BI \-O 1 Basic logical simplifications. .TP .BI \-O 2 All .BI \-O 1 optimizations, plus dead code elimination and data flow analysis. .TP .BI \-O 3 All .BI \-O 2 optimizations, plus re-order expressions to reduce expected cost. .TP \fB\-O\fI4\fR/\fB\-O\fIfast\fR All optimizations, including aggressive optimizations that may alter the observed behavior in corner cases. .RE .PP \fB\-S \fIbfs\fR|\fIdfs\fR|\fIids\fR|\fIeds\fR .RS Choose the search strategy. .TP .I bfs Breadth-first search (the default). .TP .I dfs Depth-first search. Uses less memory than breadth-first search, but is typically slower to return relevant results. .TP .I ids Iterative deepening search. Performs repeated depth-first searches with increasing depth limits. This gives results in the same order as breadth-first search, but with the reduced memory consumption of depth-first search. Tends to be very slow in practice, so use it only if you absolutely need breadth-first ordering, but .B \-S .I bfs consumes too much memory. .TP .I eds Exponential deepening search. A compromise between breadth- and depth-first search, which searches exponentially increasing depth ranges (e.g 0-1, 1-2, 2-4, 4-8, etc.). Provides many of the benefits of breadth-first search with depth-first's reduced memory consumption. Typically far faster than .B \-S .IR ids . .RE .SH OPERATORS .TP \fB( \fIexpression \fB)\fR Parentheses are used for grouping expressions together. You'll probably have to write .B \\\\( .I expression .B \\\\) to avoid the parentheses being interpreted by the shell. .PP \fB! \fIexpression\fR .br \fB\-not \fIexpression\fR .RS The "not" operator: returns the negation of the truth value of the .IR expression . You may have to write \fB\\! \fIexpression\fR to avoid \fB!\fR being interpreted by the shell. .RE .PP \fIexpression\fR \fIexpression\fR .br \fIexpression \fB\-a \fIexpression\fR .br \fIexpression \fB\-and \fIexpression\fR .RS Short-circuiting "and" operator: if the left-hand .I expression is .BR true , returns the right-hand .IR expression ; otherwise, returns .BR false . .RE .PP \fIexpression \fB\-o \fIexpression\fR .br \fIexpression \fB\-or \fIexpression\fR .RS Short-circuiting "or" operator: if the left-hand .I expression is .BR false , returns the right-hand .IR expression ; otherwise, returns .BR true . .RE .TP \fIexpression \fB, \fIexpression\fR The "comma" operator: evaluates the left-hand .I expression but discards the result, returning the right-hand .IR expression . .SH SPECIAL FORMS .TP \fB\-exclude \fIexpression\fR Exclude all paths matching the .I expression from the search. This is more powerful than .BR \-prune , because it applies even when the expression wouldn't otherwise be evaluated, due to .B \-depth or .B \-mindepth for example. Exclusions are always applied before other expressions, so it may be least confusing to put them first on the command line. .SH OPTIONS .PP .B \-color .br .B \-nocolor .RS Turn colors on or off (default: .B \-color if outputting to a terminal, .B \-nocolor otherwise). .RE .TP .B \-daystart Measure time relative to the start of today. .TP .B \-depth Search in post-order (descendents first). .TP .B \-follow Follow all symbolic links (same as .BR \-L ). .TP \fB\-files0\-from \fIFILE\fR Treat the NUL ('\\0')-separated paths in .I FILE as starting points for the search. Pass .B \-files0\-from .I \- to read the paths from standard input. .PP \fB\-ignore_readdir_race\fR .br \fB\-noignore_readdir_race\fR .RS Whether to report an error if .B bfs detects that the file tree is modified during the search (default: .BR \-noignore_readdir_race ). .RE .PP \fB\-maxdepth \fIN\fR .br \fB\-mindepth \fIN\fR .RS Ignore files deeper/shallower than .IR N . .RE .TP .B \-mount Don't descend into other mount points (same as .B \-xdev for now, but will skip mount points entirely in the future). .TP .B \-nohidden Exclude hidden files and directories. .TP .B \-noleaf Ignored; for compatibility with GNU find. .TP \fB\-regextype \fITYPE\fR Use .IR TYPE -flavored regexes (default: .IR posix-basic ; see .B \-regextype .IR help ). .TP .B \-status Display a status bar while searching. .TP .B \-unique Skip any files that have already been seen. Particularly useful along with .BR \-L . .PP .B \-warn .br .B \-nowarn .RS Turn on or off warnings about the command line. .RE .TP .B \-xdev Don't descend into other mount points. .SH TESTS .TP .B \-acl Find files with a non-trivial Access Control List .RB ( acl (5)). .PP \fB\-amin\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .br \fB\-Bmin\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .br \fB\-cmin\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .br \fB\-mmin\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .RS Find files .BR a ccessed/ B irthed/ c hanged/ m odified .I N minutes ago. .RE .PP \fB\-anewer \fIFILE\fR .br \fB\-Bnewer \fIFILE\fR .br \fB\-cnewer \fIFILE\fR .br \fB\-mnewer \fIFILE\fR .RS Find files .BR a ccessed/ B irthed/ c hanged/ m odified more recently than .I FILE was modified. .RE .PP \fB\-asince \fITIME\fR .br \fB\-Bsince \fITIME\fR .br \fB\-csince \fITIME\fR .br \fB\-msince \fITIME\fR .RS Find files .BR a ccessed/ B irthed/ c hanged/ m odified more recently than the ISO 8601-style timestamp .IR TIME . See .BI \-newer XY for examples of the timestamp format. .RE .PP \fB\-atime\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .br \fB\-Btime\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .br \fB\-ctime\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .br \fB\-mtime\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .RS Find files .BR a ccessed/ B irthed/ c hanged/ m odified .I N days ago. .RE .TP .B \-capable Find files with POSIX.1e .BR capabilities (7) set. .TP \fB\-depth\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR Find files with depth .IR N . .TP .B \-empty Find empty files/directories. .PP .B \-executable .br .B \-readable .br .B \-writable .RS Find files the current user can execute/read/write. .RE .PP .B \-false .br .B \-true .RS Always false/true. .RE .TP .B \-fstype TYPE Find files on file systems with the given .BR TYPE . .PP \fB\-gid\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .br \fB\-uid\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR .RS Find files owned by group/user ID .IR N . .RE .PP \fB\-group \fINAME\fR .br \fB\-user \fINAME\fR .RS Find files owned by the group/user .IR NAME . .RE .TP .B \-hidden Find hidden files (those beginning with .IR . ). .PP \fB\-ilname \fIGLOB\fR .br \fB\-iname \fIGLOB\fR .br \fB\-ipath \fIGLOB\fR .br \fB\-iregex \fIREGEX\fR .br \fB\-iwholename \fIGLOB\fR .RS Case-insensitive versions of .BR \-lname / \-name / \-path / \-regex / \-wholename . .RE .TP \fB\-inum\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR Find files with inode number .IR N . .TP \fB\-links\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR Find files with .I N hard links. .TP \fB\-lname \fIGLOB\fR Find symbolic links whose target matches the .IR GLOB . .TP \fB\-name \fIGLOB\fR Find files whose name matches the .IR GLOB . .TP \fB\-newer \fIFILE\fR Find files newer than .IR FILE . .TP \fB\-newer\fIXY \fIREFERENCE\fR Find files whose .I X time is newer than the .I Y time of .IR REFERENCE . .I X and .I Y can be any of .RI [ aBcm ] .RI ( a ccess/ B irth/ c hange/ m odification). .I Y may also be .I t to parse .I REFERENCE as an ISO 8601-style timestamp. For example: .PP .RS 1991-12-14 .br 1991-12-14T03:00 .br 1991-12-14T03:00-07:00 .br 1991-12-14T10:00Z .RE .PP .B \-nogroup .br .B \-nouser .RS Find files owned by nonexistent groups/users. .RE .PP \fB\-path \fIGLOB\fR .br \fB\-wholename \fIGLOB\fR .RS Find files whose entire path matches the .IR GLOB . .RE .TP \fB\-perm\fR [\fI\-\fR]\fIMODE\fR Find files with a matching mode. .TP \fB\-regex \fIREGEX\fR Find files whose entire path matches the regular expression .IR REGEX . .TP \fB\-samefile \fIFILE\fR Find hard links to .IR FILE . .TP \fB\-since \fITIME\fR Find files modified since the ISO 8601-style timestamp .IR TIME . See .BI \-newer XY for examples of the timestamp format. .TP \fB\-size\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR[\fIcwbkMGTP\fR] Find files with the given size, in 1-byte .IR c haracters, 2-byte .IR w ords, 512-byte .IR b locks (default), or .IR k iB/ M iB/ G iB/ T iB/ P iB. .TP .B \-sparse Find files that occupy fewer disk blocks than expected. .TP \fB\-type\fR [\fIbcdlpfswD\fR] Find files of the given type. Possible types are .IR b lock device, .IR c haracter device, .IR d irectory, symbolic .IR l ink, .IR p ipe, regular .IR f ile, .IR s ocket, .IR w hiteout, and .IR D oor. .TP \fB\-used\fR [\fI\-+\fR]\fIN\fR Find files last accessed .I N days after they were changed. .TP .B \-xattr Find files with extended attributes .RB ( xattr (7)). .TP \fB\-xattrname\fR \fINAME\fR Find files with the extended attribute .IR NAME . .TP \fB\-xtype\fR [\fIbcdlpfswD\fR] Find files of the given type, following links when .B \-type would not, and vice versa. .SH ACTIONS .PP .B \-delete .br .B \-rm .RS Delete any found files (implies \fB-depth\fR). .RE .TP \fB\-exec \fIcommand ... {} ;\fR Execute a command. .TP \fB\-exec \fIcommand ... {} +\fR Execute a command with multiple files at once. .TP \fB\-ok \fIcommand ... {} ;\fR Prompt the user whether to execute a command. .PP \fB\-execdir \fIcommand ... {} ;\fR .br \fB\-execdir \fIcommand ... {} +\fR .br \fB\-okdir \fIcommand ... {} ;\fR .RS Like .BR \-exec / \-ok , but run the command in the same directory as the found file(s). .RE .TP \fB\-exit\fR [\fISTATUS\fR] Exit immediately with the given status (0 if unspecified). .PP \fB\-fls \fIFILE\fR .br \fB\-fprint \fIFILE\fR .br \fB\-fprint0 \fIFILE\fR .br \fB\-fprintf \fIFILE FORMAT\fR .RS Like .BR \-ls / \-print / \-print0 / \-printf , but write to .I FILE instead of standard output. .RE .TP .B \-ls List files like .B ls .IR \-dils . .TP .B \-print Print the path to the found file. .TP .B \-print0 Like .BR \-print , but use the null character ('\\0') as a separator rather than newlines. Useful in conjunction with .B xargs .IR \-0 . .TP \fB\-printf \fIFORMAT\fR Print according to a format string (see .BR find (1)). These additional format directives are supported: .RS .TP %w The file's birth time, in the same format as %a/%c/%t. .TP .RI %W k Field .I k of the file's birth time, in the same format as .RI %A k /%C k /%T k . .RE .TP .B \-printx Like .BR \-print , but escape whitespace and quotation characters, to make the output safe for .BR xargs (1). Consider using .B \-print0 and .B xargs .I \-0 instead. .TP .B \-prune Don't descend into this directory. .TP .B \-quit Quit immediately. .TP .B \-version Print version information. .TP .B \-help Print usage information. .SH ENVIRONMENT Certain environment variables affect the behavior of .BR bfs . .PP .B LANG .br .B LC_* .RS Specifies the .BR locale (7) in use for various things. .B bfs is not (yet) translated to any languages except English, but the locale will still affect the format of printed values. Yes/no prompts (e.g. from .BR \-ok ) will also be interpreted according to the current locale. .RE .PP .B LS_COLORS .br .B BFS_COLORS .RS Controls the colors used when displaying file paths if .B \-color is enabled. .B bfs interprets .B LS_COLORS the same way GNU .BR ls (1) does (see .BR dir_colors (5)). .B BFS_COLORS can be used to customize .B bfs without affecting other commands. .RE .TP .B NO_COLOR Causes .B bfs to default to .B \-nocolor if it is set (see https://no-color.org/). .TP .B PAGER Specifies the pager used for .B \-help output. Defaults to .BR more (1). .TP .B POSIXLY_CORRECT Makes .B bfs conform more strictly to the POSIX.1-2017 specification for .BR find (1). Currently this just disables warnings by default. It does not disable .BR bfs 's various extensions to the base POSIX functionality. .SH EXAMPLES .TP .B bfs With no arguments, .B bfs prints all files under the current directory in breadth-first order. .TP .B bfs \-name '*.txt' Prints all the .txt files under the current directory. .B *.txt is quoted to ensure the glob is processed by .B bfs rather than the shell. .TP \fBbfs \-name access_log \-L \fI/var\fR Finds all files named .B access_log under .IR /var , following symbolic links. .B bfs allows flags and paths to appear anywhere on the command line. .TP \fBbfs \fI~ \fB\-not \-user $USER\fR Prints all files in your home directory not owned by you. .TP .B bfs \-xtype l Finds broken symbolic links. .TP .B bfs \-name config \-exclude \-name .git Finds all files named .BR config, skipping every .B .git directory. .TP .B bfs \-type f \-executable \-exec strip '{}' + Runs .BR strip (1) on all executable files it finds, passing it multiple files at a time. .SH BUGS https://github.com/tavianator/bfs/issues .SH AUTHOR Tavian Barnes <tavianator@tavianator.com> .PP https://tavianator.com/projects/bfs.html .SH SEE ALSO .BR find (1), .BR locate (1), .BR xargs (1)