How to restrict find command search to return only files modified before certain date?

Question

I'd like to constrain the following search to only files with a modified date <= "2009-05-29 11:59:00"

find /path -name "*.sb" ! -name "*[^0-9]*.sb"  -type f -print

I'm using CentOS

pgs · Answer 1 · 2009-05-30 17:00:24Z

up vote 3 down vote accepted

hmm, 'find /path -mtime +7' will give you files older than 7 days, and 'find ! -newer somefile' will give you files older than somefile. So...

touch -d "2009-05-29 11:59:00" timestampfile

find /path -name ".sb" ! -name "[^0-9]*.sb" ! -newer timestampfile -type f -print

answered May 30 '09 at 17:00

pgs
1,937515

	or simply `-mtime -1` ;) – Alex Jurkiewicz May 30 '09 at 17:01
	Just out of curiosity, why would anyone mark down this answer as not helpful? – Matt Simmons May 30 '09 at 17:42
	The '-newermt "DATE"' is a simpler/more elegeant way if you have GNU findutils installed. This is a little more portable across various UNIX versions, though it depends on the capabilities of your touch command. – pgs May 31 '09 at 2:41

feedback

Bernd Haug · Answer 2 · 2009-05-30 16:59:28Z

up vote 1 down vote

! -newermt '5/29/2009 23:59:00' should work on BSD; there will be a similar option on GNU.

answered May 30 '09 at 16:59

Its the same switch in GNU. – Kyle Brandt♦ May 30 '09 at 17:19

feedback

Xerxes · Answer 3 · 2009-05-30 17:29:07Z

find /path \
  -type f \
  ! -newermt "20090529 1159:00" \
  -regex "./[^0-9]*.sb$" \
  -print

You can place the regex at the end to speed up the command (place the fastest actions at the start, slowest at the end).

Matt Simmons · Answer 4 · 2009-05-30 17:03:16Z

You want -mdate

find /path -name ".sb" ! -name "[^0-9]*.sb" -type f -print -mdate -2009-05-30

Here are a couple of examples:

4 Answers