why this regex is not working with find command on linux

Question

I am trying to execute this command

find /home/scratch/test_cases/deleted/2nmW1wDfb5/ -iregex '.*/moodys_munis_full_refresh_flat_file_\d+.zip' -type f

It cannot find any file but the file is there when I do ls

ls /home/scratch/test_cases/deleted/2nmW1wDfb5/moodys_munis_full_refresh_flat_file_2.zip

Result is

/home/scratch/test_cases/deleted/2nmW1wDfb5/moodys_munis_full_refresh_flat_file_2.zip

Try: -iregex '.*/moodys_munis_full_refresh_flat_file_[0-9]*\.zip' — anubhava
– anubhava, Commented Mar 1, 2018 at 16:12

user unknown · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-01 16:45:37Z

1

Try:

find ... -iregex '.*[0-9]+.zip' -type f

instead. Or run

find -regextype --help
find: Unknown regular expression type '--help'; valid types are 'findutils-default', 'awk', 'egrep', 'ed', 'emacs', 'gnu-awk', 'grep', 'posix-awk', 'posix-basic', 'posix-egrep', 'posix-extended', 'posix-minimal-basic', 'sed'.

to get a list of known -regextypes on your system, and try

find ... -regextype sed -iregex '.*[0-9]+.zip' -type f

and the other options, if you don't know, what which style stands for.

On my system, \d doesn't work with any of the options:

for rt in "findutils-default" "awk" "egrep" "ed" "emacs" "gnu-awk" "grep" "posix-awk" "posix-basic" "posix-egrep" "posix-extended" "posix-minimal-basic" "sed"
do 
   echo -n $rt" "
   find . -type f -regextype $rt -iregex '.*ro.*2\d+.scala'
   echo
done

findutils-default 
awk 
egrep 
ed 
emacs 
gnu-awk 
grep 
posix-awk 
posix-basic 
posix-egrep 
posix-extended 
posix-minimal-basic 
sed

while rectangle braces are understood by about 50% of them:

for rt in "findutils-default" "awk" "egrep" "ed" "emacs" "gnu-awk" "grep" "posix-awk" "posix-basic" "posix-egrep" "posix-extended" "posix-minimal-basic" "sed"
do 
   echo -n $rt" "
   find . -type f -regextype $rt -iregex '.*ro.*2[0-9]+.scala'
   echo
done

findutils-default ./rot1-25.scala

awk ./rot1-25.scala

egrep ./rot1-25.scala

ed 
emacs ./rot1-25.scala

gnu-awk ./rot1-25.scala

grep 
posix-awk ./rot1-25.scala

posix-basic 
posix-egrep ./rot1-25.scala

posix-extended ./rot1-25.scala

posix-minimal-basic 
sed

edited Mar 1, 2018 at 16:45

answered Mar 1, 2018 at 16:13

user unknown

36.4k12 gold badges77 silver badges123 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Imran Over a year ago

Thank you for the reply! I tried with sed and [0-9]+ worked but then [0-9]{5} doesnt work. Since the option to enter file matching pattern will be available to users, they can enter any regex. Whay {5} doesnt work?

user unknown Over a year ago

@Imran: Have you seen the for-loops to test the -regexp-types against a regex? Sometimes you have to mask \{5\}, some will not understand it at all. "egrep" works without masking, "sed" for example with masking.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

why this regex is not working with find command on linux

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related