fwp@unccvax.UUCP (Rick Pasotto) (06/20/88)
The man page for the find command reads in part:
-name filename
True if the _filename_ argument matches the current
file name. Normal Shell argument syntax may be
used if escaped (watch out for `[', `?' and `*').
I have always read this to mean that 'find' understands 'normal Shell
argument syntax.' However on none of the machines that I have checked
does 'find' understand a backslash escape.
My problem was that I needed to 'find' some files whose name started with
an asterisk (silly way to name a file I know, but I didn't do it and it
can't be changed). Anyway, what I discovered was that
find . -name \\\*XXX\? -print
find . -name '\*XXX?' -print
nor any other escape combination would work. The solution was to use:
find . -name '[*]XXX?' -print
Have I been mis-reading the man page all this time? Should 'find'
understand escapes?
Rick Pasotto
mcnc!unccvax!fwp