THE find The command is used to search and locate files and directories based on specified conditions such as file name, size, date modified, and other attributes. You can use it to search the entire file system or within a specific directory.
It is commonly used by system administrators and regular users to quickly locate files, especially in systems with large numbers of files. If you are looking for a lost document or need to perform mass operations on a set of files that meet certain criteria, the file find The command can be an essential tool for managing and organizing your file system.
General syntax for find command:
$ find [OPTIONS] [PATH...] [EXPRESSION]
1. Search for a specific file in a directory
find ./ExampleDir -name example.txt
With the -name parameter, this command will attempt to search for a file example.txt inside the ExampleDir list; and if found, it will return the path to the file.
./ExampleDir/subdir1/example.txt ./ExampleDir/subdir2/subsubdir/example.txt
2. Find and list files with the same extension
find ./dirname -name *.txt
This command will search, within ExampleDir directory, all files ending with the extension .txt. If found, each result will be returned in a new line.
./dirname/file1.txt ./dirname/file2.txt ./dirname/subdir/file3.txt ./dirname/subdir/another_subdir/file4.txt
3. Find and list empty files and empty subdirectories
find ./ExampleDir -empty
This command, with the -empty parameter, it will find and list all empty files AND empty subfolders inside the ExampleDir folder.
Definition of empty file being a file size of 0 bytes and empty folder not being files or files with 0 bytes.
4. Find and list files that contain specific text
find ./ExampleDir -type f -name "*.txt" -exec grep 'Example' {} \;
This command searches for the word/string “Example” in files with extension .txt inside ExampleDir directories.
./ExampleDir/file1.txt:This is an Example line in file1. ./ExampleDir/subdir/file2.txt:Another Example in a different file. ./ExampleDir/file3.txt:Example usage of the find command.
5. Find and list files and subdirectories owned by a specific user
find ./ExampleDir -user ubuntu
This command, with the -user parameter, it will find files and subdirectories owned by Ubuntu user in ExampleDir directories. If found, the filenames will be returned.
In the following example ls -l result:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 newone ubuntu 20 Jan 27 06:24 example.txt
newone represents group name is ubuntu and the user.
6. Find and list files and subdirectories belonging to a specific group
find ./ExampleDir -group ubuntu
This command, with the -group parameter, it will find all files and subdirectories owned by Ubuntu group inside ExampleDir directories. If found, the filenames will be returned.
