Question

I have a find command that finds files with name matching multiple patterns mentioned against the -name parameter

find -L . \( -name "SystemOut*.log" -o -name "*.out" -o -name "*.log" -o -name "javacore*.*" \)

This finds required files successfully at the command line. What I am looking for is to use this command in a shell script and join this with a tar command to create a tar of all log files. So, in a script I do the following:

LIST="-name \"SystemOut*.log\" -o -name \"*.out\" -o -name \"*.log\" -o -name \"javacore*.*\" "
find -L . \( ${LIST} \)

This does not print files that I am looking for.

First – why this script is not functioning like the command? Once it does, can I club it with cpio or similar to create a tar in one shot?

Answer 1

Looks like find fails to match * in patterns from unquoted variables. This syntax works for me (using bash arrays):

LIST=( -name \*.tar.gz )
find . "${LIST[@]}"

Your example would become the following:

LIST=( -name SystemOut\*.log -o -name \*.out -o -name \*.log -o -name javacore\*.\* )
find -L . \( "${LIST[@]}" \)