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