How to find files that don't contain a given search string

Question

I have a command that finds all the PDF files that contain the string "Font"

find /Users/me/PDFFiles/  -type f -name "*.pdf" -exec grep -H 'Font' '{}' ';'

How can I change this command such that it does the inverse? Finds all PDF files that do not contain the search string "Font"

Thanks. No I did not try that. I found the grep "L" flag which does what I needed. — Slinky, May 15 '13 at 15:29
I don't think the "-v" option is going to do what you want, anyway, as it will output non-matching lines. — cjc, May 15 '13 at 15:30

score 25 · Accepted Answer · answered May 15 '13 at 15:28

You want to use the "-L" option of grep:

 -L, --files-without-match
         Only the names of files not containing selected lines are written to standard output.  Path-
         names are listed once per file searched.  If the standard input is searched, the string
         ``(standard input)'' is written.

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '13 at 15:28

9

Just add the "L" flag. This does the inverse

find /Users/me/PDFFiles/  -type f -name "*.pdf" -exec grep -HL 'Font' '{}' ';'

answered May 15 '13 at 15:28

Slinky

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How to find files that don't contain a given search string

2 Answers2