mjhjmtu

When I'm using

find . -type f -name "*.htm*" -o -name "*.js*" -o -name "*.txt"

it finds all the types of file. But when I add -exec at the end:

find . -type f -name "*.htm*" -o -name "*.js*" -o -name "*.txt" -exec sh -c 'echo "$0"' ;

it seems it only prints .txt files. What am I doing wrong?

Note: using MINGW (Git Bash)

find . -type f -name "*.htm*" -o -name "*.js*" -o -name "*.txt"

is short for:

find . ( ( -type f -a -name "*.htm*" ) -o 
 ( -name "*.js*" ) -o 
 ( -name "*.txt" ) 
 ) -a -print

That is, because no action predicate is specified (only conditions), a -print action is implicitly added for the files that match the conditions.

(and, by the way, that would print non-regular .js files (the -type f only applies to .htm files)).

While:

find . -type f -name "*.htm*" -o -name "*.js*" -o -name "*.txt" 
 -exec sh -c 'echo "$0"' ;

is short for:

find . ( -type f -a -name "*.htm*" ) -o 
 ( -name "*.js*" ) -o 
 ( -name "*.txt" -a -exec sh -c 'echo "$0"' ; )

For find (like in many languages), AND (-a; implicit when omitted) has precedence over OR (-o), and adding an explicit action predicate (here -exec) cancels the -print implicit action seen above. Here, you want:

find . -type f ( -name "*.htm*" -o -name "*.js*" -o -name "*.txt" ) 
 -exec sh -c 'echo "$0"' ;

Or:

find . -type f ( -name "*.htm*" -o -name "*.js*" -o -name "*.txt" ) -exec sh -c '
 for i do
 echo "$i"
 done' sh +

To avoid running one sh per file.

It is the implied brackets. Add explicit brackets. ( )

find . -type f ( -name "*.htm*" -o -name "*.js*" -o -name "*.txt" ) -exec sh -c 'echo "$0"' ;

or using xargs ( I like xargs I find it easier, but apparently not as portable).

find . -type f ( -name "*.htm*" -o -name "*.js*" -o -name "*.txt" ) -print0 | xargs -0 -n1 echo

Remember you can always add the "&&" like below...

find -name "*.html" && find -name "*.js" && find -name "*.txt"