If you have done much UNIX systems administration you have probably seen output like this from the ‘find’ command:
$ find / -name lifeaftercoffee.com
find: /proc/tty/driver: Permission denied
find: /proc/sys/kernel/pax: Permission denied
find: /proc/net: Permission denied
find: /proc/4680/fd: Permission denied
find: /usr/local/dh/apache/logs/basic-argon/fastcgi: Permission denied
find: /usr/local/dh/apache/logs/basic-bongo/fastcgi: Permission denied
find: /usr/local/dh/apache/logs/basic-cabo/fastcgi: Permission denied
find: /usr/local/dh/apache/logs/basic-dap/fastcgi: Permission denied
find: /usr/local/dh/apache/logs/basic-adamant/fastcgi: Permission denied
find: /usr/local/dh/apache/logs/basic-emu/fastcgi: Permission denied
find: /usr/local/dh/apache/logs/basic-fritz/fastcgi: Permission denied
find: /usr/local/dh/apache/logs/basic-grog/fastcgi: Permission denied
…
Annoying, to say the least, that your actual search results may be buried in pages upon pages of this.
Here’s a quick way around this. Redirect the error output to /dev/null (the black hole of data.) It’s as simple as appending ‘2>/dev/null’ to the end of the command.
$ find ./ -name lifeaftercoffee.com 2>/dev/null
/home/jonemmons/logs/lifeaftercoffee.com
/home/jonemmons/lifeaftercoffee.com
Any errors are ignored, which can complicate troubleshooting, but if things aren’t doing what you want them to, just drop the redirect and run the command to see the errors again.
The command may vary depending on your shell and breed of UNIX, but this has always worked for me.
For more tips like this check out my book Easy Linux Commands, only $19.95 from Rampant TechPress.
Technorati tags: unix, solaris, system administration, sysadmin, find