In this article, we will see how to find files and directories in Linux. It always looks a daunting task to find a file or a directory from a list of probably hundreds and thousands of files and directories available in your Linux Server. But in reality this has been made so easy with a utility called find which can be used to find or search any files or directories in your server, given that you have adequate permission to look into the required path or location.
Along with find utility, you can also make use of other useful utilities like locate command to locate the files effectively. As we go along, we will see the usage of both the utilities with the help of some real world examples. But here we will mainly focus on the usage of find utilities to search files and directories in Linux.
How to find files and directories in Linux
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When it comes to finding or searching some files or directories in a linux server, there is no better utility than find command which provides number of options and features to increase the level and depth of your search. For example, if you are looking for some file called window.js under current location then you need to use find . -name window.js command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find . -name window.js ./window.js
In case you don't know the file name if it is in small or capital letter then to ignore the case sensitivity you can use -iname option instead of -name as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find . -iname window.js ./Window.js ./window.js
Instead of searching files in current directory, you can also search files under some specific location such as /home/itsfosslinux using below command.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -iname window.js /home/itsfosslinux/Window.js /home/itsfosslinux/window.js
Similarly, if you are searching for some directory called luajit under current location then you have to use -type d option.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find . -type d -name luajit ./luajit
You can also find files on the basis of its current permissions. If you are looking for all the files under /home/itsfosslinux location having 777 permission then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -perm 0777 -print command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -perm 0777 -print /home/itsfosslinux/.wine/drive_c/ProgramData/Apple Computer/iTunes/SC Info/SC Info.txt
If you are looking for all hidden files under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -name ".*" command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -name ".*"
If you are looking for all empty directories under /home/itsfosslinux path then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -type d -empty command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type d -empty
If you would like to check all the files under /home/itsfosslinux which have SUID set then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -perm /u=s command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -perm /u=s
If you are searching for all the files which does not have some specific permission, for example 0744 under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -type f ! -perm 0744 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type f ! -perm 0744
If you are looking for all the files with sticky bit set and with some specific permissions such as 644 under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to run find /home/itsfosslinux -perm 1644 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -perm 1644
Similarly, if you are looking for all the files which has SGID bit set and has some specific permissions such as 600 under /home/itsfosslinux location then you need to use find /home/itsfosslinux -perm 2600 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -perm 2600
If you are looking for all executable files under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -perm /a=x command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -perm /a=x
If you are looking for all read only files under /home/itsfosslinux then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -perm /a=r command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -perm /a=r
Similarly, if you are searching for all write only files under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -perm /a=w command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -perm /a=w
You can also find a file by setting maxdepth and mindepth level. For example, if you are looking for a file called abc.txt with maxdepth level 2 under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -maxdepth 2 -name abc.txt command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -maxdepth 2 -name abc.txt
Similarly, if you are looking for a file called abc.txt with mindepth level 2 under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -mindepth 2 -name abc.txt command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -mindepth 2 -name abc.txt
You can also find files and directories based on its access, modified and changed date and time. For example, if you are looking for all the files which was changed in last 45 mins under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -cmin 45 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -cmin 45
Similarly, if you are searching for all the files which was changed more than 45 mins back under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -cmin +45 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -cmin +45
If you are looking for all the files which was accessed in last 60 mins under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -amin 60 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -amin 60
Similarly, if you are searching for all the files which was accessed more than 60 mins back under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -amin +60 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -amin +60
If you are looking for all the files which was modified in last 20 mins under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -mmin 20 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -mmin 20
Similarly, if you are searching for all the files which was modified more than 20 mins back under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -mmin +20 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -mmin +20
If you are searching for all the files which was changed more than 10 days back and less than 20 days then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -ctime +10 -ctime -20 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -ctime +10 -ctime -20
If you are searching for all the files which was accessed more than 20 days back and less than 30 days then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -atime +20 -atime -30 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -atime +20 -atime -30
If you are searching for all the files which was modified more than 5 days back and less than 20 days then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -ctime +5 -ctime -20 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -mtime +5 -mtime -20
You can also search files based on its size. For example, if you are looking for all the files of size 80MB under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -size 80M command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -size 80M
Similarly if you are looking for all the files of size between 50M to 80M under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -size +50M -size -80M command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -size +50M -size -80M
You can also find all the files which belongs to a user or a group. For example, if you are looking for all the files which belongs to user itsfosslinux under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -user itsfosslinux command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -user itsfosslinux
If you are looking for all the files which does not belong to any known specific user then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -nouser command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -nouser
Similarly, if you are looking for all the files which belongs to a group say itsfosslinux in our case under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -group itsfosslinux command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -group itsfosslinux
If you are looking for all the files which does not belong to any known groups under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -nogroup command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -nogroup
You can also search all the files belongs to a user or a group by their user id or group id. For example, if you are looking for all the files belongs to user id 300 under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -user 300 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -user 300
Similarly, if you are searching for all the files belong to group id 400 under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -group 400 command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -group 400
You can also search for all empty files and directories. For example, if you are looking for all empty files under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -empty command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -empty
Similarly, if you are looking for all empty directories under /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -type d -empty command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type d -empty
You can also find files and directories and perform certain operation on it in a single line of command. For example, you can search all the files with permission 0654 under /home/itsfosslinux location and modify its permission to 644 using find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -perm 0654 -print -exec chmod 644 {} \; command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -perm 0654 -print -exec chmod 644 {} \;
Similarly, if you want to find and remove a file called abc.txt from /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to use find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -name abc.txt -exec rm -rf {} \; command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -name abc.txt -exec rm -rf {} \;
Similarly, if you are looking to find and remove all the txt files with size greater than 20M from /home/itsfosslinux location then you have to run find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -name *.txt -size +20M -exec rm -rf {} \; command as shown below.
itsfosslinux@ubuntu:~$ find /home/itsfosslinux -type f -name *.txt -size +20M -exec rm -rf {} \;