> > > Can somebody explain this to me? > > > > > > $ find /cdrom -iname wx* > > > $ find /cdrom -iname wxx* > > > /cdrom/debian/hamm/hamm/binary-i386/libs/wxxt1_1.66d-2.deb > > > > > > Why does the first 'find' query give no results? > > > > Are you quoting the argument to avoid shell expansion? > > > > $ find /cdrom -iname 'wx*' > > No. I just did it as it was printed above. > > Today is another day. I did the same thing and here is the result: > (I was in my home directory as I was yesterday) > > jhspies@Johann(8)$ find /cdrom -iname wx* > find: paths must precede expression > Usage: find [path...] [expression] > jhspies@Johann(9)$ cd / > jhspies@Johann(10)$ find /cdrom -iname wx* > /cdrom/debian/hamm/hamm/binary-i386/doc/wxhelp_1.66d-2.deb > /cdrom/debian/hamm/hamm/binary-i386/libs/wxxt1_1.66d-2.deb > > Anyhow, it is not a problem for me. I was just curious on why the strange > result. Now I am wondering why I did not get the same result today? Eh, note that find does special optimization which does not work on CD ROM's. It assumes that two directories are "." and "..". From the info page: - Option: -noleaf Do not optimize by assuming that directories contain 2 fewer subdirectories than their hard link count. This option is needed when searching filesystems that do not follow the Unix directory-link convention, such as CD-ROM or MS-DOS filesystems or AFS volume mount points. Each directory on a normal Unix filesystem has at least 2 hard links: its name and its `.' entry. Additionally, its subdirectories (if any) each have a `..' entry linked to that directory. When `find' is examining a directory, after it has statted 2 fewer subdirectories than the directory's link count, it knows that the rest of the entries in the directory are non-directories ("leaf" files in the directory tree). If only the files' names need to be examined, there is no need to stat them; this gives a significant increase in search speed.