Find: missing argument to `-mtime'

UNIX for Beginners Q & A
1

this find command works when using manually on the command line

--
$ ls -latr file*.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 75 Jan  4 05:00 file_2.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 75 Jan  4 05:00 file_1.log
$
$ find . ! -name -prune -type f -name "file*.log" -daystart -mtime 2
./file_1.log
./file_2.log
$

however when using it on a on bash shell script as

...
for i in `find . ! -name . -prune -type f -name "$vfile" -daystart -mtime +$pday`
...

where the variable $vfile is the first parameter for the file to search and $pday is the second parameter days how old is the file

it is getting the error

$ sh rmAgingFile.sh file*.log 2
current directory .
find: missing argument to `-mtime'
no aging files found that are file_2.log days old

please help thank you.

Linux version: 2.6.32-754.15.3.el6.x86_64

2

This is telling you that the value for pday is not set or not an integer, so your command as a whole becomes invalid. Could you sh -xv rmAgingFile.sh file*.log 2 and review the output to see what is actually being run? Do you actually assign the argument 2 to that variable pday ? I presume it would need something like pday="${2}" early in your code to do that.

It might also be that the shell where you are running the command has expanded file*.log to each file it found, so that might mess up the input. You could try by wrapping it in double quotes, so sh -xv rmAgingFile.sh "file*.log" 2 might be better. Obviously drop the -xv if this does the trick.

If this is still failing, could you paste the output/errors showing the expanded find command as it is trying to run?

Kind regards,
Robin

3

originally it was written on AIX and is working fine then had to moved the to same script to Linux. basically the goal of the script is to find a file that is days old depending on the parameter.

here is the output using this command sh -xv rmAgingFile.sh file*.log 2

p1=$1
+ p1=file_1.log
pday=$2
+ pday=file_2.log

vdir=`pwd`
pwd
++ pwd
+ vdir=/sbin/scripts
vhomedir=`pwd`
pwd
++ pwd
+ vhomedir=/sbin/scripts
vctr=0
+ vctr=0

# check for null parameter
if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
  echo current directory $vdir
  echo no parameter entered
  echo
else
  #check for directory entry only
  if [ -d $p1 ]; then
    vdir=$p1
    echo current directory $vdir
    cd $vdir
    echo no file parameter entered
    echo
  #check for directory entry and file
  elif [ -f $p1 ]; then
    vdir=`dirname $p1`
    echo current directory $vdir
    cd $vdir

    for f in $1
    do
      vfile=`basename $f`
      #for i in `find $vdir -name "$vfile" -mtime +$pday`
      #ommit the subdirectories in the searcch
      for i in `find . ! -name . -prune -type f -name "$vfile" -daystart -mtime +$pday`
      do
        let vctr=$vctr+1
        vfile=`basename $i`
        echo deleting aging files $vfile
        rm $vfile
      done
    done

    if [ $vctr -eq 0 ]; then
      echo "no aging files found that are $pday days old"
    fi
  else
    echo $p1 not found
  fi
fi
+ '[' 3 -lt 1 ']'
+ '[' -d file_1.log ']'
+ '[' -f file_1.log ']'
dirname $p1
++ dirname file_1.log
+ vdir=.
+ echo current directory .
current directory .
+ cd .
+ for f in '$1'
basename $f
++ basename file_1.log
+ vfile=file_1.log
find . ! -name . -prune -type f -name "$vfile" -daystart -mtime +$pday
++ find . '!' -name . -prune -type f -name file_1.log -daystart -mtime +file_2.log
find: missing argument to `-mtime'
+ '[' 0 -eq 0 ']'
+ echo 'no aging files found that are file_2.log days old'
no aging files found that are file_2.log days old

#return the cursor to the home directory
cd $vhomedir
+ cd /sbin/scripts

# put a white space
echo
+ echo

thank you.

4

Exactly what rbatte1 predicted

is happening: $2 is becoming the second file found / expanded to.

5

tried this still don't work.
pday="${2}"

maybe I am doing it wrong.

6

Don't quote $2 but the first parameter (the one with wild card chars) on the command line when calling the script.

7

tried to wrap the first parameter with double quotes but still would not work.

8

Difficult to believe. Show what you did.

9

I replaced the code with this smaller code and it works.

p1=$1
pday=$2

for f in $(ls -1 $p1)
do
  vfile=`basename $f`
  echo $vfile
  for i in `find . ! -name . -prune -type f -name $vfile -daystart -mtime +$pday`
  do
    let vctr=$vctr+1
    vfile=`basename $i`
    echo deleting aging files $vfile
    rm $vfile
  done

  if [ $vctr -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "no aging files found that are $pday days old"
  fi
done

# write a whitespace
echo

output:

$ sh rmAgingFile.sh "file*.log" 1
file_1.log
deleting aging files file_1.log
file_2.log
deleting aging files file_2.log