Why is “find -mtime +2” not showing files older than 48 hours

Any idea why -mtime +2 didn't return test file. What I understand is +2 will return all file older than 48 Hrs.

$ pwd
/tmp/20122020
$ ls -rlt
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 dmsjboss dmsjboss 0 Dec 17 21:34 test
$
$ date
Sun Dec 20 10:08:27 +04 2020
$
$ find . -name "test" -mtime +2
$
$
$
$ find . -name "test" -mtime +1
./test
$

3

1 Answer

Because the file wasn't 3 days old when you ran the test, it was only two "full" days old.

man find

would have shown you

File was last accessed less than, more than or exactly n*24 hours ago. When find figures out how many 24-hour periods ago the file was last accessed, any fractional part is ignored, so to match -atime +1, a file has to have been accessed at least two days ago.

This is valid for mtime too

1

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