Ubuntu – “find: missing argument to `-exec’” when using “-exec rm -f {}\”

command linefind

I run this command:

~/shell_temp$ find . -type f -name "IMAG1806.jpg" -exec rm -f {}\

i got output below:

> IMAG1806.jpg

Error:
find: missing argument to `-exec'

what is exact command for find any file from current directory and remove with -exec?

Best Answer

You missed the a ; at the end (and a space too between {} and ;). The correct command is:

find . -type f -name "IMAG1806.jpg" -exec rm -f {} \;

; indicates the end of -exec predicate of find.

Also note that we have used \; i.e. \ in front of ; to escape the interpretation of ; by shell, otherwise shell will treat ; as end of the whole find command and find will throw the same error. You can also use ';' instead of \;.

You were using \ at the end, this indicates your shell will continue to take input via PS2 (indicated by >), you typed IMAG1806.jpg again, so the whole command becomes:

find . -type f -name "IMAG1806.jpg" -exec rm -f {}IMAG1806.jpg

As you can see this is not a valid command at all with IMAG1806.jpg at the end, no closing of -exec predicate and without a space between {} and \;.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – “paths must precede expression” error when trying to find all jpg files in the current directory

tl;dr Always quote globs in find: find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.jpg" (notice the " characters surrounding *).

In your case, the shell is interpreting *.jpg (note the * character) and trying to match file names within the current directory that end in .jpg. There is a file named pic1 (1).jpg so that file name replaces *.jpg. The command the system is given by the shell becomes

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name 'pic1 (1).jpg'

To see in depth, try tracing the original command using strace. What is actually executed is:

touch foo.jpg bar.jpg
strace find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name *.jpg 2>&1 | grep jpg
execve("/usr/bin/find", ["find", ".", "-maxdepth", "1", "-type", "f", "-name", "bar.jpg", "foo.jpg"], [/* 62 vars */]) = 0
...

Ubuntu – find: missing argument to -exec

The \ in -exec md6sum {} \; is necessary to prevent the shell from interpreting the ; character as command separator. If Java does not execute the command in a shell, try removing the escaping \\ so that the code becomes:

Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process pr = rt.exec("find testDir -type f -exec md5sum {} ;");

I have just confirmed this behavior with the next test program:

import java.io.*;
class Xx {
    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
        Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("/bin/echo \\;");
        InputStream in = p.getInputStream();
        int c;
        while ((c=in.read()) != -1)
            System.out.write((char)c);
        p.waitFor();
    }
}

Compiled with javac Xx.java, java Xx outputs \;. If I remove the \\, it'll print ; as expected.

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – “paths must precede expression” error when trying to find all jpg files in the current directory

Ubuntu – find: missing argument to -exec

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