FIND(3)

💖 FIND(3) 💖

okay bestie, this is FIND(3) from the Library Functions Manual — the fastfind algorithm interface, and it's giving “I know where your pathnames live” energy ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

find — fastfind algorithm interface

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <find.h>

void* findopen(const char* pattern);
char* findnext(void* handle);
void findclose(void* handle);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

These routines access the data generated by the fastfind algorithm. The data itself is generated by a standalone program that is run daily via cron or at. So like, the library is not out here doing the whole thing itself — it's reading the data, periodt 💅

• findopen — returns a handle to a fastfind stream for the ksh file pattern pattern 🫶
• findnext — returns the next pathname that matches the pattern specified by handle. It returns 0 when no more pathnames match the pattern. no cap, 0 means we're done here 💀
• findclose — closes the fastfind stream for handle. bye bestie 👋

💀 BUGS 💀

These routines (the page spells it rotuines — a typo icon, honestly 😭) are only as good as the fastfind information, which is in the system administration domain. So if the fastfind info is a mess, these routines are a mess — iykyk 🫠

lowkey: the routines are only as good as the info they're reading, and that info lives in the sysadmin domain.

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

tw(1), find(1), strmatch(3)

James A. Woods, Fast Find Algorithm, Usenix ;login:, February/March, 1983, p. 8

that's the tea, bestie — FIND(3) in the Library Functions Manual, no date listed, signing off with maximum sparkle 💋✨