The times that go with the find operators -mtime, -atime, and -ctime (17.4) aren't documented very well. The times are in days:
A number with no sign, for example, 3
(as in -mtime 3 or
-atime 3), means the 24-hour period that ended exactly
three days ago (in other words, between 96 and 72 hours ago).
A number with a minus sign (-
) refers to the period
since that time.
For example, -3
(as in -mtime -3) is any time
between now and three days ago (in other words, between 0 and 72 hours ago).
Naturally, a number with a plus sign (+
) refers to the 24-hour period
before that time.
For example, +3
(as in -mtime +3) is any time
more than three days ago (in other words, more than 96 hours ago).
Got that? Then you should see that -atime -2 and -atime 1 are both true on files that have been accessed between 48 and 24 hours ago. (-atime -2 is also true on files accessed 24 hours or less ago.)
For more exact comparisons, use find -newer with touch (17.8).
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