Linux find Command

In Linux find command is used to search and locate a single or list of files and directories based on conditions you specify for files that match the arguments.

Linux find command can search files by permissions, users, groups, file types, date, size, and other possible criteria.

find Command Syntax

~$   find [-H] [-L] [-P] [-D debugopts] [-Olevel] [starting-point...] [expression]

find -name to find Files by Name

Find all the files whose name is python3 in a current working directory.

Command: find . -name python3

~$  find . -name python3

Find all the files whose name is python3 in /bin directory

Command: find /bin/ -name python3

~$  find /bin/ -name python3

output:
~$  /bin/python3

Find all the files whose name is python3 in /home/ directory

Command: find /home/ -name python3

~$  find /home/ -name python3

# This will search files and directories with the name python inside /home/ directory.
# python3 doesn't exist inside /home/ so it won't show anything.

Case-insensitive file searching using find command

Command: find /bin/ -iname python3

~$  find /bin/ -iname python3

# This will search files and directories with the name python in any available case inside /home/ directory.

Case-insensitive file searching excluding directories

Command: find /bin/ -type f -iname python3.8

~$  find /bin/ -type f  -iname python3.8

# This will only search files not the directories inside /bin/ directory  in any available case.

find -type f Searching File excluding directories

Command: find /bin/ -type f -name python3.8

~$  find /bin/ -type f  -name python3.8

# This will only search files not the directories inside /bin/ directory  in any available case.

find -type d Searching Directories Using Name

Command: find /usr/ -type d -name games

~$  find /usr/ -type d -name games

find .txt in Current Directory

Command: find . -name “*.txt”

~$   find . -name "*.txt"

find all .txt files in all Directories

Command: find / -name “*.txt”

~$   find / -name "*.txt"

# To stop processing press CTRL + C

Find and remove single File

Command: find . -type f -name “file.txt” -exec rm -f {} ;

~$  find . -type f -name "file.txt" -exec rm -f {} \;

Find and remove Multiple File

Command: find . -type f -name “*.txt” -exec rm -f {} ;

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

Find all Python Files Using Name

Find all python files whose name ending with “.py” extension in a current working directory.

~$  find . -type f -name "*.py"

~$  find . -type f -name index.py

Find SUID Files

Said permission is called SUID, which stands for Set owner User ID. This is a special permission that applies to scripts or applications. If the SUID bit is set, when the command is run, it’s effective UID becomes that of the owner of the file, instead of the user running it.

Command: find / -perm /u=s

~$  find / -perm /u=s

Find SGID Files

SGID (Set Group ID up on execution) is a special type of file permissions given to a file/folder. In Linux/Unix when a program executes, it inherits access permissions from the logged-in user.

Command: find / -perm /g=s

~$  find / -perm /g=s

Find Read-Only Files

Command: find /bin/ -perm /u=r

~$   find /bin/ -perm /u=r

Find Executable Files

Command: find /bin/ -perm /a=x

~$   find /bin/ -perm /a=x

Find all Empty Files

Command: find /usr -type f -empty

~$  find /usr -type f -empty

Find all Empty Directories

Command: find /usr -type d -empty

~$  find /usr -type d -empty

Find Files With 777 Permissions

Command: find . -type f -perm 0777 -print

~$  find . -type f -perm 0777 -print

Find Files Without 777 Permissions

Command: find / -type f ! -perm 777

~$  find / -type f ! -perm 777

Find SGID Files with 644 Permissions

Command: find / -perm 2644

~$  find / -perm 2644

Find Sticky Bit Files with 551 Permissions

Command: find / -perm 1551

~$  find / -perm 1551

Find Files with 777 Permissions and Chmod to 644

Command: find / -type f -perm 0777 -print -exec chmod 644 {} ;

~$  find / -type f -perm 0777 -print -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Find Directories with 777 Permissions and Chmod to 755

Command: find / -type d -perm 777 -print -exec chmod 755 {} ;

~$  find / -type d -perm 777 -print -exec chmod 755 {} \;

File all Hidden Files

Command: find /tmp -type f -name “.*”

~$  find /tmp -type f -name ".*"

Find Single File Based on User

To find all or single files called file.txt under / root directory of owner root. Command: find / -user root -name file.txt

~$  find / -user root -name file.txt

Find all Files Based on User

Command: find /home -user root

~$  find /home -user root

Find all Files Based on Group

Command: find /home -group root

~$  find /home -group root

Find Particular Files of User

Command: find /home -user root -iname “*.txt”

~$  find /home -user root -iname "*.txt"

Find Last 30 Days Modified Files

Command: find / -mtime 30

~$  find / -mtime 30

Find Last 60 Days Accessed Files

Command: find / -atime 60

~$  find / -atime 60

Find Last 10-20 Days Modified Files

Command: find / -mtime +10 –mtime -20

~$   find / -mtime +10 –mtime -20

Find Changed Files in Last 40 Minutes

Command: find / -cmin -40

~$  find / -cmin -40

Find Modified Files in Last 30 Minutes

Command: find / -mmin -30

~$   find / -mmin -30

Find Accessed Files in Last 2 Hour

Command: find / -amin -120

~$  find / -amin -120

Find 50MB Files

Command: find / -size 20M

~$  find / -size 20M

Find Size between 100MB – 200MB

Command: find / -size +100M -size -200M

~$   find / -size +100M -size -200M

Find and Delete 200MB Size Files

Command: find / -type f -size +200M -exec rm -f {} ;

~$   find / -type f -size +200M -exec rm -f {} \;

Find Specific Files and Delete

Command: find / -type f -name *.mp3 -size +10M -exec rm {} ;

~$   find / -type f -name *.mp3 -size +10M -exec rm {} \;