CODEWITHSUNDEEP
regexfind
DominicM
DominicM

Reputation: 6898

Regex no matches with linux find

I am at a loss what is making this simple command not return any matches. I get zero results in all variations below:

find . -type d -regex '.+ [0-9]{4}' -print | wc -c;
find * -type d -regex '.+[0-9]{4}' -print | wc -c;
find * -type d -regex '.+[0-9]' -print | wc -c;
find . -type d -regex '[0-9]' -print | wc -c;

If I use '.+' regex then I get all results as expected. Directories are name in this pattern: [1 or more words] [4 digits]. I want to match any directory ending in a year and print it. What am I missing here?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 65

Answers (2)

Ryszard Czech
Ryszard Czech

Reputation: 18611

Use -regextype 'posix-extended' with your regex:

find . -type d -regextype 'posix-extended' -regex '.*[0-9]{4}' -print | wc -c

This expression will returns all directories ending in four digits.

Upvotes: 0

anubhava
anubhava

Reputation: 785246

You need to use -regextype option with an extended regex type e.g.:

find . -type d -regextype egrep -regex '.+-[0-9]{4}$

Note that default value of -regextype is emacs

Upvotes: 1

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