Mastering Linux ‘find’: Powerful File Search Techniques and Examples

Basic Syntax

The find utility searches the file hierarchy based on specified criteria. Its general form is:

find [options] [path] [expression]

Search by File Name

List all files in the current directory and sub‑directories: find . Find a file named 11.png: find . -name "11.png" Find all .jpg files: find . -name "*.jpg" Find both .jpg and .png files: find . -name "*.jpg" -o -name "*.png" Find files that are not .png:

find . ! -name "*.png"

Search Using Regular Expressions

Locate files whose names consist solely of digits and end with .png:

find . -regex "\./*[0-9]+\.png"

Search by Path

Find files or directories whose path contains the string wysiwyg:

find . -path "*wysiwyg*"

Search by File Type

Use -type to filter by file type. Common type codes are:

f – regular file

l – symbolic link

d – directory

c – character device

b – block device

s – socket

p – FIFO (named pipe)

Example – find regular files whose path contains wysiwyg:

find . -type f -path "*wysiwyg*"

Limit Search Depth

Find .png files only in the current directory (no recursion): find . -maxdepth 1 -name "*.png" Find .png files exactly two levels deep:

find . -mindepth 2 -maxdepth 2 -name "*.png"

Search by File Size

The -size option accepts units: b (512‑byte blocks), c (bytes), w (2‑byte words), k (kilobytes), M (megabytes), G (gigabytes).

Example – find files larger than 100 MiB:

find . -type f -size +100M

Search by Access/Modification/Change Time

Time‑related tests: -atime / -amin: last access (days/minutes) -mtime / -mmin: last modification (days/minutes) -ctime / -cmin: last status change (days/minutes)

Find files modified within the last day: find . -type f -mtime -1 Find files accessed in the last week: find . -type f -atime -7 Move log files older than one week to /tmp/old_logs:

find . -type f -mtime +7 -name "*.log" -exec mv {} /tmp/old_logs \;

Search by Permissions

Find files with exact permission 777: find . -type f -perm 777 Find PHP files whose permissions are not 644:

find . -type f -name "*.php" ! -perm 644

Search by Owner or Group

Find files owned by user root: find . -type f -user root Find files belonging to group root:

find . -type f -group root

Execute Commands on Found Files

Use -ok for interactive confirmation, or -exec for direct execution.

Interactive deletion of all .js files (asks before each removal): find . -type f -name "*.js" -ok rm {} \; Immediate deletion without confirmation:

find . -type f -name "*.js" -exec rm {} \;

Find Empty Files

Example to create empty files and then locate them:

touch 1.txt 2.txt 3.txt
find . -empty