find (Find File and Directory)

The find
command is used to locate files or directories under the specified path.
Find with File or Directory Name
Using a file or directory name is one of the frequently used approaches in the find
command. Specify the file or directory name after the -name
option.
For example, to find the ssh key file named authorized_keys, you can run the command below.
The command returns the file path of the file like the one below.
Find with Other Options
There are many other approaches to finding files or directories. Here are the selected options for the find command.
-type option
You can specify what type of files or directories you are searching. To use the option, add the document type after the -type
option. These are examples of the document type.
f
: normal filed
: directoryl
: symbolic links
: hard link
For example, to find a symbolic link whose name starts with “file” run the command below.
-size option
You can also search files with the document data size. Specify the size that you are looking for.
-size +10M
: size is 10M or more than 10M-size 10M
: size is 10M-size -10M
: size is 10M or less than 10M
-empty option
With this option, you can find empty documents only.
-o option
When you have two search criteria, you can connect the search name with the -o
option. It works as the OR function.
If you want to find two different file names, you need to add the -name
option both before and after the -o
option. The following is an example of the command used to search documents named test or test_sub.
Wildcard
Wildcard is useful when you forget the exact name of a file or directory. Please see the next section on how to use the wildcard in the find command.