Find command usage in Linux with excellent examples--reference

http://www.coolcoder.in/2014/02/find-command-usage-in-linux-with.html

find searches the directory tree rooted at each given file name by evaluating  the given expression from left to right, according to the rules of precedence, until the outcome is known (the left hand side is false for and operations, true for or), at which point find moves on to the next file name.

The syntax of find command is:

 

find where-to-look criteria what-to-do

 

I have tried to explain the find command usage with all possible examples:

 

 

 

 

Part I – Find Files Based on their types

 

1. Find Files Using Name in Current Directory

Find all the files whose name is codeon.txt in a current working directory.

 # find . -name codeon.txt

2. Find Files Under Home Directory
  
Find all the files under /home directory with name codeon .txt.

 # find /home -name codeon.txt 

 

3. Find Files Using Name and Ignoring Case

Find all the files whose name is codeon .txt and contains both capital and small letters in /home directory.

   # find /home -iname codeon.txt

4. Find Directories Using Name

Find all directories whose name is Codeon in /directory.

   # find / -type d -name Codeon

5. Find PHP Files Using Name

Find all php files whose name is codeon .php in a current working directory.

   # find . -type f -name codeon.php

6. Find all PHP Files in Directory
 

# find . -type f -name "*.php"

 

Part II – Find Files Based on their Permissions

7.  Find all the files whose permissions are 777

 

# find . -type f -perm -0777

 
8. Find all the files without permission 777

 

# find / -type f   !  -perm -777
  
9. Find all the SGID bit set files whose permissions set to 644

 
 # find / -perm -2644
  
10. Find all the Sticky Bit set files whose permission are 551

 

# find / -perm -1551
  
11. Find all SUID set Files

   # find / -perm -4000
  
12. Find all SGID set files

 

  # find / -perm -2000
  
13. Find all Sticky bit set files
  
  # find / -perm -1000

  14. Find all Read Only files

   # find / -perm /u=r
  
15. Find all Executable Files
 

   # find / -perm /a=x
  
16. Find all 777 permission files and use chmod command to set permissions to 644

   # find / -type f -perm 0777 -print -exec chmod 644 {} \;
  
17. Find all 777 permission directories and use chmod command to set permissions to 755

 # find / -type d -perm 777 -print -exec chmod 755 {}  \;
  
18. Find and remove single File

To find a single file called codeon .txt and remove it.

   # find . -type f -name "codeon.txt" -exec rm -f {} \;
  
19. Find and remove Multiple File

To find and remove multiple files such as .mp3 or .txt, then use.

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

OR

# find . -type f -name "*.mp3" -exec rm -f {}  \;
  
20. Find all Empty Files

To find all empty files under certain path.

   # find /tmp -type f -empty
  
21. Find all Empty Directories

To find all empty directories under certain path.

   # find /tmp -type d -empty
  
22. File all Hidden Files

To find all hidden files, use below command

   # find /tmp -type f -name ".*"
  
Note: always put -name before ".*"
  

Part III - Search files based on owners and groups

 

23. Find Single File Based on User

To find all or single file called codeon .txt under /root directory of owner root.

   # find / -user root -name codeon.txt
  
24. Find all Files Based on User

To find all files that belongs to user Codeon under /home directory.

   # find /home -user codeon
  
25. Find all Files Based on Group

To find all files that belongs to group Developer under /home directory.

   # find /home -group Developer
  
26. Find Particular Files of User

To find all .txt files of user codeon under /home directory.

   # find /home -user codeon -iname "*.txt"
 

Part IV – Find Files and Directories Based on Date and Time

 

27. Find Last 50 Days Modified Files

To find all the files which are modified 50 days back.

   # find / -mtime 50
  
28. Find Last 50 Days Accessed Files

To find all the files which are accessed 50 days back.

   # find / -atime 50
  
29. Find Last 50-100 Days Modified Files

To find all the files which are modified more than 50 days back and less than 100 days.

   # find / -mtime +50 –mtime -100
  
30. Find Changed Files in Last 1 Hour

To find all the files which are changed in last 1 hour.

   # find / -cmin -60
  
31. Find Modified Files in Last 1 Hour

To find all the files which are modified in last 1 hour.

   # find / -mmin -60
  
32. Find Accessed Files in Last 1 Hour

To find all the files which are accessed in last 1 hour.

   # find / -amin -60
 

Part V - Find files and directories based on size

33. Find 50MB Files

To find all 50MB files, use

   # find / -size 50M
  
34. Find Size between 50MB – 100MB

To find all the files which are greater than 50MB and less than 100MB.

   # find / -size +50M -size -100M
  
35. Find and Delete 100MB Files

To find all 100MB files and delete them using one single command.

   # find / -size +100M -exec rm -rf {}  \;
  
36. Find Specific Files and Delete

Find all .mp3 files with more than 10MB and delete them using one single command.

   # find / -type f -name *.mp3 -size +10M -exec ls -l {}  \;

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