Linux find Command with Practical Examples

Introduction

In this lab, you will learn how to use the powerful Linux find command to search for files and directories based on various criteria, such as name, file type, size, and more. The lab covers the basic usage of the find command, as well as more advanced techniques to combine it with other commands for more complex searches. You will start by understanding the basic syntax and some practical examples of the find command, and then explore how to search for files by name and file type. Finally, you will learn how to combine the find command with other commands to perform advanced searches.

Linux Commands Cheat Sheet

Skills Graph

Understand the Basics of the find Command

In this step, you will learn the basic usage of the find command in Linux. The find command is a powerful tool that allows you to search for files and directories based on various criteria, such as name, file type, size, and more.

Let's start by understanding the basic syntax of the find command:

find [path] [expression]

• [path]: The directory or directory tree where you want to search for files. If not specified, the current directory is used.
• [expression]: The criteria used to search for files, such as file name, file type, size, etc.

Now, let's try some basic examples:

1. Search for all files in the current directory:

   find .

   Example output:

   .
   ./file1.txt
   ./file2.txt
   ./directory1
   ./directory1/file3.txt

2. Search for all files with the .txt extension in the current directory:

   find . -name "*.txt"

   Example output:

   ./file1.txt
   ./file2.txt
   ./directory1/file3.txt

3. Search for all directories in the current directory:

   find . -type d

   Example output:

   .
   ./directory1

4. Search for all files larger than 1 megabyte (MB) in the current directory:

   find . -size +1M

   Example output:

   ./large_file.zip

The find command provides many more options and expressions to refine your searches. In the next steps, you will explore more advanced use cases of the find command.

Search for Files by Name and File Type

In this step, you will learn how to use the find command to search for files based on their name and file type.

1. Search for files by name:

   To search for files by name, you can use the -name option followed by the file name or a wildcard pattern.

   find . -name "file1.txt"

   Example output:

   ./file1.txt

   You can also use wildcard patterns to search for multiple files with similar names:

   find . -name "*.txt"

   Example output:

   ./file1.txt
   ./file2.txt
   ./directory1/file3.txt

2. Search for files by file type:

   To search for files by their type, you can use the -type option followed by the file type character. The common file type characters are:

   • f: regular file
   • d: directory
   • l: symbolic link

   find . -type f -name "*.txt"

   Example output:

   ./file1.txt
   ./file2.txt
   ./directory1/file3.txt

   find . -type d

   Example output:

   .
   ./directory1

You can combine the -name and -type options to refine your searches. For example, to find all regular files with the .txt extension in the current directory:

find . -type f -name "*.txt"

Example output:

./file1.txt
./file2.txt
./directory1/file3.txt

Combine find with Other Commands for Advanced Searches

In this step, you will learn how to combine the find command with other Linux commands to perform more advanced file system searches.

1. Find and delete files:

   To find and delete files that match certain criteria, you can use the find command together with the rm command:

   find . -type f -name "*.tmp" -delete

   This command will find all regular files (-type f) with the .tmp extension in the current directory and delete them.

2. Find and execute commands on matching files:

   You can use the find command to execute a specific command on the files that match your search criteria. The -exec option allows you to do this.

   find . -type f -name "*.txt" -exec cat {} \;

   This command will find all regular files (.txt files) in the current directory and display their contents using the cat command.

3. Find and copy files:

   You can combine find with the cp command to copy files that match your search criteria to a different location.

   find . -type f -name "*.txt" -exec cp {} ~/backups/ \;

   This command will find all .txt files in the current directory and copy them to the ~/backups/ directory.

4. Find and move files:

   Similarly, you can use find with the mv command to move files that match your search criteria to a different location.

   find . -type f -name "*.bak" -exec mv {} ~/archive/ \;

   This command will find all .bak files in the current directory and move them to the ~/archive/ directory.

By combining the find command with other Linux commands, you can create powerful and flexible file system search and management workflows.

Summary

In this lab, you learned the basic usage of the find command in Linux, including how to search for files by name, file type, and size. You also explored how to combine the find command with other commands for more advanced searches. The key learning points covered in this lab include:

Understanding the basic syntax of the find command and its main components - the search path and the expression. Performing simple searches for all files in a directory, files with a specific extension, and directories. Searching for files based on size criteria, such as files larger than a certain size. Combining the find command with other commands like xargs for more complex search operations.

Linux Commands Cheat Sheet