— Test: -type c

True if the file is of type c:

b

block (buffered) special

c

character (unbuffered) special

d

directory

p

named pipe (FIFO)

f

regular file

l

symbolic link; if ‘-L’ is in effect, this is true only for broken symbolic links. If you want to search for symbolic links when ‘-L’ is in effect, use ‘-xtype’ instead of ‘-type’.

s

socket

D

door (Solaris)

— Test: -xtype c

This test behaves the same as ‘-type’ unless the file is a symbolic link. If the file is a symbolic link, the result is as follows (in the table below, ‘X’ should be understood to represent any letter except ‘l’):

‘‘-P -xtype l’’

True if the symbolic link is broken

‘‘-P -xtype X’’

True if the (ultimate) target file is of type ‘X’.

‘‘-L -xtype l’’

Always true

‘‘-L -xtype X’’

False unless the symbolic link is broken

In other words, for symbolic links, ‘-xtype’ checks the type of the file that ‘-type’ does not check.

The ‘-H’ option also affects the behaviour of ‘-xtype’. When ‘-H’ is in effect, ‘-xtype’ behaves as if ‘-L’ had been specified when examining files listed on the command line, and as if ‘-P’ had been specified otherwise. If neither ‘-H’ nor ‘-L’ was specified, ‘-xtype’ behaves as if ‘-P’ had been specified.

See Symbolic Links, for more information on ‘-follow’ and ‘-L’.