Find file in directory how to#

The default configuration for find will ignore symbolic links (shortcut files). db files (ignoring text case) modified in the last 7 days by a user named exampleuser. jpg files in the /home and sub-directories.įind an empty file within the current directory.įind /home -user exampleuser -mtime -7 -iname '.db'įind all.

find searches the entire directory tree beneath /var/Basic Examples Commandįind a file called testfile.txt in current and sub-directories.įind all. This command enables the maximum optimization level (-O3) and allows find to follow symbolic links ( -L). The expression attribute controls the tests that search the directory hierarchy to produce output.Ĭonsider the following example command: find -O3 -L /var/www/ -name '*.html'.The starting/path attribute will define the top-level directory where find begins filtering.The options attribute will control the find process’s behavior and optimization method.Using Common find Commands and Syntax to Find a File in Linuxįind expressions take the following form: find options starting/path expression The following example searches for *.err files in the /home/username/ directory and all sub-directories: find /home/username/ -name '*.err' Use find from the command line to locate a specific file by name or extension. Find a File in Linux by Name or Extension By using the -exec flag ( find -exec), matches, which can be files, directories, symbolic links, system devices, etc., can be found and immediately You can use the find command to search for a file or directory on your file system. The find command in Linux is used to find a file (or files) by recursively filtering objects in the file system based on a simple conditional mechanism.

Find file in directory how to#

This article covers the basics of how to find a file in Linux using the CLI. This is especially true if you are running Linux without a graphical user interface and need to rely on the command line.

When you have to find a file in Linux, it’s sometimes not as easy as finding a file in another operating system.