find2perl

Translate find command lines to equivalent Perl code

TLDR

Convert a find command to a Perl script

$ find2perl [directory] -name "[*.txt]"

Generate a script with -exec translation

$ find2perl [.] -type f -exec cat {} \;

Translate a complex find expression and save to a file

$ find2perl [/var] -mtime +[30] -name "[*.log]" > [cleanup.pl]

Run the generated Perl script directly

$ find2perl [.] -name "[*.bak]" | perl

find2perl translates find command expressions into equivalent Perl scripts using the File::Find module. The generated Perl code typically runs faster than the original find command and can be modified to add custom processing beyond what find supports.The tool helps users migrate from shell-based find commands to Perl for complex file processing tasks. The output is a complete Perl script that can be piped directly to perl or saved and modified.

PARAMETERS

PATHS

Starting directories to search.

PREDICATES

find-style expressions translated to Perl equivalents.

-name PATTERN

Match filename against shell glob pattern.

-type TYPE

File type: f (regular file), d (directory), l (symbolic link).

-mtime N

Modification time in days (+N older, -N newer, N exactly).

-size N

File size.

-exec CMD

Execute command on matching files.

-print

Print matching paths (default action).

-depth

Process directory contents before the directory itself.

INSTALL

sudo apk add perl-app-find2perl

CAVEATS

Not all find predicates are supported. The generated code may need manual cleanup for edge cases. find2perl was removed from Perl core in version 5.22.0 (2015) and deprecated since Perl 5.20.0. It is available separately from CPAN as the App::find2perl distribution.

HISTORY

find2perl was included with Perl as a utility for translating find commands. It was removed from the Perl core distribution in Perl 5.22.0 and must now be installed separately from CPAN.