8.1.1 Filesystem Traversal Options

The options ‘-H’, ‘-L’ or ‘-P’ may be specified at the start of the command line (if none of these is specified, ‘-P’ is assumed). If you specify more than one of these options, the last one specified takes effect (but note that the ‘-follow’ option is equivalent to ‘-L’).

-P

Never follow symbolic links (this is the default), except in the case of the ‘-xtype’ predicate.

-L

Always follow symbolic links, except in the case of the ‘-xtype’ predicate.

-H

Follow symbolic links specified in the list of files to search, or which are otherwise specified on the command line.

If find would follow a symbolic link, but cannot for any reason (for example, because it has insufficient permissions or the link is broken), it falls back on using the properties of the symbolic link itself. Symbolic Links for a more complete description of how symbolic links are handled.