linux : find

We can search files or directories in linux using find

Basic usage :

find DIRECTORY OPTION WHAT_TO_FIND

DIRECTORY :

We can specify where we want to run the find command.

By default, if we don't specify the directory it will call the current directory ./

# find FILE.txt in home directory
$ find /home -name "FILE.txt"

# find all .txt files in the current directory
$ find -name "*.txt"

OPTIONS :

• -type f : find files

# find matched files
$ find -type f -name "FILE.txt"

by default find is finding files. we can also use -type f for file type

• -type d : find a directories

# find matched directories
$ find -type d -name "DIRECTORY"

• -iname : find with case insensitive

# find a FILE.txt or file.txt
$ find -iname "FILE.txt"

• -print : display the path name

  We can use -print option or not with the sam result.
  

# find files
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -print

# find directories
$ find -type d -name "DIRECTORY"

• -size : find by size

# find files smaller than 10MB
$ find -size -10M

# find files larger than 10MB
$ find -size +10M

# find files exactly 3 10MB
$ find -size 10M

# find files between 10MB and 1GB
$ find -size +10M -size -1G

• -empty or -size 0 : find empty files or directories

# find an empty files
$ find -type f -empty

# find an empty directories
$ find -type d -size 0

• -exec CMD : execute a command after

# execute grep after find is done
$  find -name "FILE.txt" -exec grep "KEYWORD" {} \;

• -delete or -exec rm {} \; : delete matched files or directories

# delete an mathed files
$ find -name "*.bak" -delete

# delete an empty directories
$ find -type d -size 0 -exec rmdir {} \;

• not or ! : exclude the matched files or directories

# find all except the matched files
$ find -not -name "FILE.txt"

• -mtime : find by modified time

  we also can use -mmin if we want to specify the time interval to minutes
  

# find files modified within the last 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -mtime -3

# find files modified more than 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -mtime +3

# find files modified exactly 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -mtime 3

# find files modified between 3 and 10 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -mtime +3 -mtime -10

• -atime : find by accessed time

  we also can use -amin if we want to specify the time interval to minutes
  

# find files accessed within the last 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -atime -3

# find files accessed more than 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -atime +3

# find files accessed exactly 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -atime 3

# find files accessed between 3 and 10 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -atime +3 -atime -10

• -ctime : find by changed time

  we also can use -cmin if we want to specify the time interval to minutes
  

# find files changed within the last 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -atime -3

# find files changed more than 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -atime +3

# find files changed exactly 3 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -atime 3

# find files changed between 3 and 10 days
$ find -name "FILE.txt" -atime +3 -atime -10

• -perm : find by permission

# find files with permission 777
$ find -perm 777

• -user : find by user access

# find matched files with user root
$ find -user root -name "FILE.txt" 

• -group : find by group access

# find matched files with group developer
$ find -group developer -name "FILE.txt"

• find hidden files

$ find -name ".*"