* niqui resorts to her all-time favorite fuck-you problem solver: find(1).
can’t find where something is being called? find -exec grep for it!
something pissing you off? find -exec rm it!
find(1) rocks!
find(1) is niqui’s friend!
find(1) would probably make coffee for niqui if only some short-sighted posix twit had declined to implement -brew!
* twork likes to imagine the syl(us|i) thrashing, thrashing, thrashing…
once in a while /me still runs across someone who thinks find(1) is only good for finding, and compares it disparagingly to locate(1). sooner or later, they get sent an Illustrative Example.
yeah, i often picture a little hard drive spinning, spinning, spinning as it does my bidding
oh, oh, *smite* them. locate(1) is not fit to lick find(1)’s boots.
i mean, not that i don’t like locate fine for stupid shit.
it’s just that it’s only good for doing stupid shit.
find(1) is good for doing *smart* shit. dare i say, *clever* shit, even.
it’s an accident of naming, really.
there’s no good four letter word for what find(1) really does. well, there may be but it was taken by the precursor to fsck(8).
find(1) should be named, like, fix(1)
or maybe swissarmyknife(1)
sak for short.
sak sounds like the name of a unix utility.
sak!
* twork likes sak(1) also for being named in a way that sets it up for misspelling subsequent to oral communication.
“dude, just use sak.” […] “fuck, my system does not have sack!”
* twork also enjoys the thought of systems being disparaged for their lack of sack.
* niqui laughs and laughs.
“IRIX? some redeeming features but no real sak(1).”

…

find(1), find(1), you’re so fine,
you’re so fine you blow my mind!
hey find(1)!
hey find(1)!

okay, that sucked. let’s try this again.

trudging through layers of detritus
the sediment of years on a system
i think my wrists are getting arthritis
i bet i’m really gonna miss ’em.
and you see, my memory’s shot;
the documentation, not so hot
i don’t know where to go
let’s see what find(1) will show

find . -type f for a hint–
and an -exec grep pmx-list-cdb-rebuild {} \; wouldn’t disagree,
not to forget a -print
and a 2>/dev/null to drop the crap i don’t want to see
(i don’t care about permissions denied
or the read rights that i might lack;
that which you can’t open(2) you should just push aside,
and just keep your attention on track.)

look at those lovely files:
the matching expressions so dear,
output arranged in columnar aisles
the situation is clear:
time for a command line a little more intervening
i think it’s time to draw a line
and this filesystem definitely needs a good cleaning—
!! -exec rm -f {} \; sounds just fine.