GNU/Linux (in particular, the Bash console shell) allows you to Search for files on a system with a variety of parameters that are not available in well-known Windows. The find command is responsible for this. Its popularity cannot be overestimated, since the speed of its work, combined with the flexibility of parameterization, forces any user to study it in a more detailed way.
Syntax and Options of Find Command in Linux
The find command is an integral part of any GNU/Linux distribution. It can search files by various criteria, such as the owner, type, size, and all other properties possessed by any file.
This utility has the following syntax:
find [directory] [options] criteria pattern [action]
where directory is the search location, options are additional instructions for the type of search depth, etc., criteria is the necessary file property for the search (name, owner, type, etc.), pattern is the value directly to which the search will be oriented, action indicates additional actions for the found files.
The main find options are listed in the table below:
| Option | Value |
| -P | symbolic links will not be displayed |
| -L | get data about files from symbolic links. It is necessary for subsequent processing of files using these links |
| -maxdepth | setting the maximum search depth in subdirectories. To limit only to the current directory, the value 1 is used |
| -depth | primary search is performed in the current directory, and then in subdirectories |
| -mount | search for files only in the current file system |
| -version | display version of find |
| show full object names | |
| -type f | search exclusively files |
| -type d | search directories only |
The following table shows the main search criteria:
| Criterion | Value |
| -name | by name |
| -perm | by permission access |
| -user | by owner |
| -group | by group |
| -mtime | by object modification time |
| -atime | by last read date |
| -nogroup | without belonging to any group |
| -nouser | without owner |
| -newer | newer than the specified object |
| -size | by size |
Linux Find Command Examples
The following are typical examples of using the find utility using various options and criteria.
Search for All Objects
In fact, these commands are synonymous with each other. They display all files in the Current Directory, including all subdirectories:
find find . find . -print
Search in a Specific Directory
Shows found objects in the specified folder:
find /tmp
Search for objects using the specified regular expression pattern (if only letters are specified, you can omit quotation marks):
find /tmp -name *apt*
Same search, but not case sensitive:
find /tmp -iname *apt*
Search Depth Limit
Finds objects only in the current directory, without looking at subdirectories:
find . -maxdepth 1 -name “*.php”
Inverted Pattern Search
Find only files in the current directory that do not fit the specified pattern:
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -not -name “*.php”
Search in Several Directories
Searches for the specified folders at the same time:
find ./wp-admin ./wp-content -type f -name “*index*”
Search for Hidden Objects
Finds all files whose names begin with a dot (.):
find . -type f -name “.*”
Search by Permissions
Finds all objects by the specified access mask:
find . -perm 0666
Finds all objects available for execution to all users:
find . -maxdepth 1 -perm /a=x
Actions with Found Objects
The find utility can execute various terminal commands with found objects, which allows several commands to fit into one. To do this, use the -exec expression, curly braces {}, which indicate the substitution location of the found files, and \; at the end of the expression.
Find objects that are larger than 2 MB and show detailed information about them:
find . -maxdepth 2 -size 2M
Remove all files in the directory containing the text specified in the template:
find /tmp -type f -iname "*apt*" -exec rm -f {} \;
Remove all objects from the specified directory that are larger than 200 MB:
find /tmp -size +200M -exec rm -f {} \;
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