When I tell this module set prune to 0 it should NOT descend directories

I don't know where you got that idea.

First, there is no 'prune' option that you can pass in to File::Find::find(). Second, you have to set $File::Find::prune to one (not zero). Third, you have to set it from within your "wanted" subroutine when the traversal gets to a directory that you don't want the traversal to descend into.

In your case, you appear to want to have your "wanted" subroutine always set $File::Find::prune= 1; so no subdirectories are traversed into.

hello monks, I am getting the error at the first write statement:  Undefined format "STDOUT" Any ideas and help would be much appreciated! I posted this on Perl beginners as well.

#!/usr/bin/perl


use strict ;
use warnings ;
use File::Find ;
use File::Find::Closures qw(find_by_min_size) ;
$ENV{"PATH"} = qq(/usr/bin:/bin) ;
delete @ENV{qw (IFS CDPATH KSH_ENV)} ;


my ( $key, $keys, $user, $grp, $gcos, $mod, $mod2, $sz, ) ;
my ( @sorted_large_files, @sorted_root_files, );

<snip>

sub dateme {

    ##-- $mod is for modification time from file(s) --##
    my $mod = shift @_ ;
    my ($seconds, $minutes, $hours, $day_of_month, $month,
        $year,    undef,    undef,  undef
    ) = localtime( $mod ) ;

    ##-- $mod2 is like $mod, but does more, allows user to see mod tim
+e from sprintf --##
    my $mod2 = sprintf(
        "%02d:%02d:%02d-%02d/%02d/%02d",
        (   $hours, $minutes, $seconds, $month + 1,
            $day_of_month, ( $year % 100 )
        )
    ) ;
}

<snip>


##-- Begin Main --##
#===================#

print qq(\n) ;
my $fs   = $ARGV[0] ;
my $size = ( $ARGV[1] * 1024 * 1024 ) ;
$fs   =~ tr /\000//d ;    ##-- Clean user input --##
$size =~ tr /\000//d ;

die qq ( \nPlease enter filesystem followed by minimum file size to se
+arch.
Usage example: find_hog /var 25 will look in /var for files >= 25Mb\n\
+n ),
    unless ( $fs and $size ) ;

my ( @root_files, @large_files, ) ;

if ( $fs eq "/" ) {    ## only if the root directory
    <snip>
}
elsif ( $fs =~ m|^/\w+|i ) {    ## matches /var
    find_me( $fs, $size, 0 ) ;
}
elsif ( $fs =~ m|^[/.\w+]|i ) {    ## matches /.ssh
    find_me( $fs, $size, 0 ) ;
}

sub find_me {
    my $fs   = shift @_ ;
    my $size = shift @_ ;
    my ( $wanted, $list ) = find_by_min_size( $size ) ;
    File::Find::find( { wanted => $wanted, no_chdir => +shift }, $fs )
+ ;
    @large_files = $list->() ;

}   ##-- End sub --##

##-- Gather meta-data --##
#=========================#

use constant DIVISOR        => ( 1024 ) ;
use constant LINES_PER_PAGE => ( 44 ) ;

if ( @large_files ) {
    my %meta ;
    for my $file ( @large_files ) {
        $meta{$file} = {
            'uid' => ( stat( $file ) )[4],
            'gid' => ( stat( $file ) )[5],
            'sz'  => ( stat( $file ) )[7],
            'mod' => ( stat( $file ) )[9],
        } ;

    }   ##-- End For --##

    for $key ( keys %meta ) {
        $user            = qq(N/A)
            unless $user = (getpwuid ( $meta{$key}->{'uid'} ) )[0]  ; 
+##-- uid name --##

        $grp             = qq(N/A)
            unless $grp  = (getgrgid ( $meta{$key}->{'gid'} ) )[0]  ; 
+##-- gid name --##

        $gcos            = qq(N/A)
            unless $gcos = (getpwuid ( $meta{$key}->{'uid'} ) )[6] ; #
+#-- gcos --##

        $mod             = qq(N/A)
            unless $mod = $meta{$key}{'mod'} ;

        $sz              = qq(N/A)
            unless $sz   = $meta{$key}{'sz'} / DIVISOR / DIVISOR ;

        my $ofh = select( STDOUT ) ;
        $= = LINES_PER_PAGE ;
        select( $ofh ) ;
        write ;  ## THIS IS WHERE THE ERROR IS ##
        $ofh = select( LOG ) ;
        $=   = LINES_PER_PAGE ;
        select( $ofh ) ;
        write( $ofh ) ;

    }   ##-- End For --##

        ##-- Sort values according to sz --##

        @sorted_large_files =
            sort { $meta{$b}->{'sz'} <=> $meta{$a}->{'sz'} } keys %met
+a;

}   ##-- End @large_files if --##

<snip>
        ##-- Begin Format Code --##
        #==========================#

        $^L = q{};
        format STDOUT_TOP =
        REPORT OF LARGE FILES on:
        @<<<<<<<<<<
        qx(hostname)


        Page @<<<
        $%

        FileName                                                      
+        Owner    GroupOwner   Gecos                     LastModifiedD
+ate   Size Mb
        =========================                                     
+        =======  ===========  ======                    =============
+====  =======
        .

        format STDOUT =
        @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
+<<<<<<<< @<<<<<<< @<<<<<<    @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<  @|||||||||||||
+  @##.##
        @sorted_large_files,                                          
+                                                         dateme($mod,
+$mod2)

       .
       <snip>
       ##-- End Format Code --##
       #========================#


else {
    warn "\nNo file(s) over $size Mb found in $fs\n" ;
    exit 0 ;
}

#print "\n";
#print join("\n",@sorted_large_files);
#print join("\n",@sorted_root_files);

END {
    close( LOG ) or warn "Log '$log' failed to close $!" ;
}
[download]

Now, the very same answers are going to appear here, but typed by an entirely different set of people, wasting resources. Wasting free resources.

Don't be a resource hog.