x2q

· linux · find · command-line · macos · shell

Find the most recently changed files on Linux (2026)

find -printf with sort gives you a newest-last list of every file in a tree; -mmin/-mtime filter by age. macOS's BSD find lacks -printf, so this covers the portable variants too. Handy for 'what just changed on this server?'

TL;DR — find . -type f -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort | tail lists files newest-last across a whole tree. To filter by age, find . -type f -mmin -60 (last hour) or -mtime -1 (last day). On macOS, use the stat/-newermt variants below.

A one-line note from 2007 that’s still in my muscle memory. “What changed on this box recently?” comes up constantly — here’s the full toolkit.

Newest files in a directory tree (GNU/Linux)

find . -type f -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort | tail -20
  • -printf '%T+ %p\n' prints a sortable YYYY-MM-DD+HH:MM:SS timestamp then the path.
  • sort orders oldest→newest; tail -20 shows the 20 most recent (| sort -r | head flips it).

Filter by age directly

find can select by modification time without sorting:

find . -type f -mmin -60      # modified in the last 60 minutes
find . -type f -mmin -5       # last 5 minutes
find . -type f -mtime -1      # last 24 hours (-mtime is in days)
find . -type f -mtime -7      # last week

The leading - means “less than N ago”; +N means “more than N ago”.

Files newer than a reference

find . -type f -newer /etc/some.reference     # changed after that file
find . -type f -newermt "2026-06-01"          # changed after a date (GNU)
find . -type f -newermt "2 hours ago"         # changed in the last 2 hours

Add details (size, time) to the listing

find . -type f -mmin -60 -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td %TT  %10s  %p\n' | sort
# or hand off to ls for human sizes:
find . -type f -mmin -60 -exec ls -lh --time-style=long-iso {} +

macOS / BSD find (no -printf)

BSD find on macOS doesn’t support -printf. Use -newermt (it does have that) or fall back to stat:

find . -type f -mtime -1                       # works on macOS too
find . -type f -newermt "2026-06-01"           # date filter
# newest-last with stat (macOS stat syntax):
find . -type f -exec stat -f '%m %N' {} + | sort -n | tail -20

(%m = epoch mtime, %N = name; sort -n orders numerically.)

FAQ

What’s the difference between modified, changed, and accessed?

-mtime/%T = content last modified. -ctime/%C = inode changed (permissions, rename, content). -atime/%A = last accessed (often disabled via noatime mounts). For “what file changed” you almost always want -mtime/-mmin.

How do I find the single newest file?

find . -type f -printf '%T@ %p\n' | sort -n | tail -1 | cut -d' ' -f2- (%T@ is epoch seconds).

Exclude a directory (e.g. .git)?

find . -path ./.git -prune -o -type f -mmin -60 -print.

Summary

  • Newest-last list: find . -type f -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort | tail.
  • By age: -mmin -60 (minutes), -mtime -1 (days), -newermt "…".
  • macOS: use -mtime/-newermt, or stat -f '%m %N' since BSD find has no -printf.