Provided by: bfs_1.2.1-1_amd64 
NAME
bfs - breadth-first search for your files
SYNOPSIS
bfs [flags...] [paths...] [expression...]
flags (-H/-L/-P etc.), paths, and expressions may be freely mixed in any order.
DESCRIPTION
bfs is a breadth-first version of the UNIX find(1) command.
bfs supports almost every feature from every major 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 (see bfs-SPECIFIC FEATURES below).
Each path specified on the command line is treated as a starting path to search through. If no paths are
specified, the current directory (.) is searched by default.
Like find(1), bfs interprets its arguments as a short-circuiting Boolean expression. For example,
bfs \( -name '*.txt' -or -lname '*.txt' \) -and -print
will print the all the paths that are either .txt files or symbolic links to .txt files. -and is implied
between two consecutive expressions, so this is equivalent:
bfs \( -name '*.txt' -or -lname '*.txt' \) -print
Finally, -print is implied if no actions are specified, so this too is equivalent:
bfs -name '*.txt' -or -lname '*.txt'
Most options that take a numeric argument N will also accept -N or +N. -N means "less than N," and +N
means "greater than N."
POSIX find FEATURES
Operators:
( expression )
Parentheses are used for grouping expressions together. You'll probably have to write \(
expression \) to avoid the parentheses being interpreted by the shell.
! expression
The "not" operator: returns the negation of the truth value of the expression. You may have to
write \! expression to avoid ! being interpreted by the shell.
expression [-a] expression
Short-circuiting "and" operator: if the left-hand expression is true, returns the right-hand
expression; otherwise, returns false.
expression -o expression
Short-circuiting "or" operator: if the left-hand expression is false, returns the right-hand
expression; otherwise, returns true.
Flags:
-H Follow symbolic links on the command line, but not while searching.
-L Follow all symbolic links.
Options:
-depth Search in post-order (descendents first).
-xdev Don't descend into other mount points.
Tests:
-atime [-+]N
-ctime [-+]N
-mtime [-+]N
Find files accessed/changed/modified N days ago.
-group NAME
-user NAME
Find files owned by the group/user NAME.
-links [-+]N
Find files with N hard links.
-name GLOB
Find files whose name matches the GLOB.
-path GLOB
Find files whose entire path matches the GLOB.
-newer FILE
Find files newer than FILE.
-perm [-]MODE
Find files with a matching mode.
-type [bcdlpfs]
Find files of the given type. Possible types are block device, character device, directory,
symbolic link, pipe, regular file, and socket.
-size [-+]N[c]
Find files with the given size. The default unit is 512-byte blocks; c counts characters/bytes
instead.
Actions:
-prune Don't descend into this directory.
-exec command ... {} ;
Execute a command.
-exec command ... {} +
Execute a command with multiple files at once.
-ok command ... {} ;
Prompt the user whether to execute a command.
-print Print the path to the found file.
GNU find FEATURES
Operators:
-not expression
Same as ! expression.
expression -and expression
Same as expression -a expression.
expression -or expression
Same as expression -o expression.
expression , expression
The "comma" operator: evaluates the left-hand expression but discards the result, returning the
right-hand expression.
Flags:
-P Never follow symbolic links (the default).
-D FLAG
Turn on a debugging flag (see -D help).
-ON Enable optimization level N (default: 3; interpreted differently than GNU find -- see below).
Options:
-d Search in post-order (same as -depth).
-daystart
Measure time relative to the start of today.
-follow
Follow all symbolic links (same as -L).
-ignore_readdir_race
-noignore_readdir_race
Whether to report an error if bfs detects that the file tree is modified during the search
(default: -noignore_readdir_race).
-maxdepth N
-mindepth N
Ignore files deeper/shallower than N.
-mount Don't descend into other mount points (same as -xdev).
-noleaf
Ignored; for compatibility with GNU find.
-regextype TYPE
Use TYPE-flavored regexes (default: posix-basic; see -regextype help).
-warn
-nowarn
Turn on or off warnings about the command line.
Tests:
-amin [-+]N
-cmin [-+]N
-mmin [-+]N
Find files accessed/changed/modified N minutes ago.
-anewer FILE
-cnewer FILE
-mnewer FILE
Find files accessed/changed/modified more recently than FILE was modified.
-empty Find empty files/directories.
-executable
-readable
-writable
Find files the current user can execute/read/write.
-false
-true
Always false/true.
-fstype TYPE
Find files on file systems with the given TYPE.
-gid [-+]N
-uid [-+]N
Find files owned by group/user ID N.
-inum [-+]N
Find files with inode number N.
-lname GLOB
Find symbolic links whose target matches the GLOB.
-newerXY REFERENCE
Find files whose X time is newer than the Y time of REFERENCE. X and Y can be any of [aBcm]
(access/Birth/change/modification).
-regex REGEX
Find files whose entire path matches the regular expression REGEX.
-samefile FILE
Find hard links to FILE.
-size [-+]N[cwbkMG]
1-byte characters, 2-byte words, 512-byte blocks, and kiB/MiB/GiB.
-type [bcdlpfsD]
The Door file type is also supported on platforms that have it (Solaris).
-used [-+]N
Find files last accessed N days after they were changed.
-wholename GLOB
Find files whose entire path matches the GLOB (same as -path).
-ilname GLOB
-iname GLOB
-ipath GLOB
-iregex REGEX
-iwholename GLOB
Case-insensitive versions of -lname/-name/-path/-regex/-wholename.
-xtype [bcdlpfsD]
Find files of the given type, following links when -type would not, and vice versa.
Actions:
-delete
Delete any found files (implies -depth).
-execdir command ... {} ;
-execdir command ... {} +
-okdir command ... {} ;
Like -exec/-ok, but run the command in the same directory as the found file(s).
-ls List files like ls -dils.
-print0
Like -print, but use the null character ('\0') as a separator rather than newlines. Useful in
conjunction with xargs -0.
-printf FORMAT
Print according to a format string (see find(1)).
-fls FILE
-fprint FILE
-fprint0 FILE
-fprintf FORMAT FILE
Like -ls/-print/-print0/-printf, but write to FILE instead of standard output.
-quit Quit immediately.
-version
Print version information.
-help Print usage information.
BSD find FEATURES
Flags:
-E Use extended regular expressions (same as -regextype posix-extended).
-X Filter out files with non-xargs(1)-safe names.
-x Don't descend into other mount points (same as -xdev).
-f PATH
Treat PATH as a path to search (useful if it begins with a dash).
Tests:
-Bmin [-+]N
-Btime [-+]N
Find files Birthed N minutes/days ago.
-Bnewer FILE
Find files Birthed more recently than FILE was modified.
-depth [-+]N
Find files with depth N.
-gid NAME
-uid NAME
Group/user names are supported in addition to numeric IDs.
-size [-+]N[cwbkMGTP]
Units of TiB/PiB are additionally supported.
-sparse
Find files that occupy fewer disk blocks than expected.
Actions:
-exit [STATUS]
Exit immediately with the given status (0 if unspecified).
-printx
Like -print, but escape whitespace and quotation characters, to make the output safe for xargs(1).
Consider using -print0 and xargs -0 instead.
-rm Delete any found files (same as -delete; implies -depth).
bfs-SPECIFIC FEATURES
Flags:
-O0 Disable all optimizations.
-O1 Basic logical simplifications.
-O2 All -O1 optimizations, plus dead code elimination and data flow analysis.
-O3 All -O2 optimizations, plus re-order expressions to reduce expected cost.
-O4/-Ofast
All optimizations, including aggressive optimizations that may alter the observed behavior in
corner cases.
Options:
-color
-nocolor
Turn colors on or off (default: -color if outputting to a terminal, -nocolor otherwise).
Tests:
-hidden
Match hidden files (those beginning with .).
Actions:
-nohidden
Filter out hidden files and directories.
-printf FORMAT
-fprintf FORMAT FILE
These additional format directives are supported:
%w The file's birth time, in the same format as %a/%c/%t.
%Wk Field k of the file's birth time, in the same format as %Ak/%Ck/%Tk.
EXAMPLES
bfs With no arguments, bfs prints all files under the current directory in breadth-first order.
bfs -name '*.txt'
Prints all the .txt files under the current directory. *.txt is quoted to ensure the glob is
processed by bfs rather than the shell.
bfs -name access_log -L /var
Finds all files named access_log under /var, following symbolic links. bfs allows flags and paths
to appear anywhere on the command line.
bfs ~ -not -user $USER
Prints all files in your home directory not owned by you.
bfs -xtype l
Finds broken symbolic links.
bfs -name .git -prune -false -o -name config
Finds all files named config, skipping every .git directory.
bfs -type f -executable -exec strip '{}' +
Runs strip(1) on all executable files it finds, passing it multiple files at a time.
BUGS
https://github.com/tavianator/bfs/issues
AUTHOR
Tavian Barnes <tavianator@tavianator.com>
https://github.com/tavianator/bfs
SEE ALSO
find(1), locate(1), xargs(1)
BFS(1)