Linux Commands: Search a folder hierarchy for filename(s) that meet a desired criteria


find-Linux Command

find

Search a folder hierarchy for filename(s) that meet a desired criteria.

SYNTAX
      find [path...] [expression]

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 (see section OPERATORS), 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 first argument that begins with - ( ) , or ! is taken to be the beginning of the expression; any arguments before it are paths to search, and any arguments after it are the rest of the expression. If no paths are given, the current directory is used. If no expression is given, the expression `-print' is used.

find exits with status 0 if all files are processed successfully, greater than 0 if errors occur.

EXPRESSIONS

The expression is made up of options (which affect overall operation rather than the processing of a specific file,
and always return true), tests (which return a true or false value), and actions (which have side effects and
return a true or false value), all separated by operators. -and is assumed where the operator is omitted. If the
expression contains no actions other than -prune, -print is performed on all files for which the expression is
true.

OPTIONS

All options always return true. They always take effect, rather than being processed only when their place in the
expression is reached. Therefore, for clarity, it is best to place them at the beginning of the expression.

-daystart
	Measure times (for -amin,  -atime,  -cmin,  -ctime,-mmin,  
	and  -mtime)  from  the  beginning of today
	rather than from 24 hours ago.

-depth 
	Process each directory's contents before the directory itself.

-follow
	Dereference symbolic links.  Implies -noleaf.

-help, --help
	Print  a  summary of the command-line usage of find
	and exit.

-maxdepth levels
	Descend at most  levels  (a  non-negative  integer)
	levels  of directories below the command line argu­   
	ments.  `-maxdepth 0' means only  apply  the  tests
	and actions to the command line arguments.
 
mindepth levels
	Do  not  apply  any tests or actions at levels less
	than levels (a non-negative  integer).   `-mindepth
	1'  means process all files except the command line
	arguments.
 
mount   Don't descend directories on other filesystems.  An
	alternate  name  for  -xdev, for compatibility with
	some other versions of find.
 
noleaf
	Do not optimize by assuming that  directories  con­
	tain  2  fewer  subdirectories than their hard link
	count.   This  option  is  needed  when   searching
	filesystems  that do not follow the Unix directory-
	link convention, such as CD-ROM or MS-DOS  filesys­
	tems or AFS volume mount points.  Each directory on
	a normal Unix filesystem has at least 2 hard links:
	its  name  and  its  `.'  entry.  Additionally, its
	subdirectories (if any) each  have  a  `..'   entry
	linked to that directory.  When find is examining a
	directory, after it has statted 2 fewer subdirecto­
	ries than the directory's link count, it knows that
	the rest of the entries in the directory  are  non-
	directories  (`leaf'  files in the directory tree).
	If only the files' names need to be examined, there
	is  no  need to stat them; this gives a significant
	increase in search speed.
 
-version, --version
	Print the find version number and exit.

-xdev   Don't descend directories on other filesystems.
 
TESTS
	Numeric arguments can be specified as

    +n     for greater than n,

    -n     for less than n,

     n     for exactly n.

    -amin n
           File was last accessed n minutes ago.

    -anewer file
           File was last accessed more recently than file  was
           modified.   -anewer  is affected by -follow only if
           -follow comes before -anewer on the command line.

    -atime n
           File was last accessed n*24 hours ago.

    -cmin n
           File's status was last changed n minutes ago.

    -cnewer file
           File's status was last changed more  recently  than
           file  was modified.  -cnewer is affected by -follow
           only if -follow comes before -cnewer on the command
           line.         
    -ctime n
           File's status was last changed n*24 hours ago.

    -empty File is empty and is either a regular file or a directory.

    -false Always false.

    -fstype type
           File is on a filesystem of type type.   The  valid
           filesystem  types  vary among different versions of
           Unix; an incomplete list of filesystem  types  that
           are accepted on some version of Unix or another is:
           ufs, 4.2, 4.3, nfs, tmp, mfs, S51K, S52K.  You  can
           use  -printf with the %F directive to see the types
           of your filesystems.

    -gid n File's numeric group ID is n.

    -group gname
           File belongs to group gname (numeric  group  ID      
           allowed).

    -ilname pattern
           Like -lname, but the match is case insensitive.

    -iname pattern
           Like -name, but the match is case insensitive.  For
           example, the patterns `fo*'  and  `F??'  match  the
           file names `Foo', `FOO', `foo', `fOo', etc.

    -inum n
           File has inode number n.

    -ipath pattern
           Like -path, but the match is case insensitive.

    -iregex pattern
           Like -regex, but the match is case insensitive.

    -links n
           File has n links.
                            
    -lname pattern
           File  is a symbolic link whose contents match shell
           pattern pattern.  The metacharacters do  not  treat
           `/' or `.' specially.

    -mmin n
           File's data was last modified n minutes ago.

    -mtime n
           File's data was last modified n*24 hours ago.

    -name pattern
           Base of file name (the path with the leading direc­
           tories removed) matches shell pattern pattern.  The
           metacharacters  (`*', `?', and `[]') do not match a
           `.' at the start of the base  name.   To  ignore  a
           directory  and  the files under it, use -prune; see
           an example in the description of -path.

    -newer file                                      
           File was modified more recently than file.   -newer
           is affected by -follow only if -follow comes before
           -newer on the command line.

    -nouser
           No user corresponds to file's numeric user ID.

    -nogroup
           No group corresponds to file's numeric group ID.

    -path pattern
Related Linux Bash commands:

grep - Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern
egrep - Search file(s) for lines that match an extended expression
fgrep - Search file(s) for lines that match a fixed string
gawk - Find and Replace text within file(s)
tr - Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters
Other Linux Commands:
alias , break , builtin , cal , case , cat , cd , cfdisk , chgrp , chmod , chown , chroot , cksum , cmp , comm , command , continue , cp , cron , crontab , csplit , cut , date , dc , dd , declare , df , diff , diff3 , dir , dircolors , dirname , dirs , du , echo , egrep , enable , env , eval , exec , expand , export , expr , factor , false , fdformat , fdisk , fgrep , find , fmt , fold , for , fsck , function , getopts , hash , hashcharacter , head , history , hostname , id , if , import , install , join , kill , less , let , ln , local , locate , logname , logout , lpc , lpr , lprm , ls , m4 , man , mbadblocks , mkdir , mkfifo , mknod , more , mount , mtools , mv , nice , nl , nohup , passwd , paste , period , popd , pr , printf , ps , pushd , pwd , quota , quotacheck , quotactl , ram , rcp , read , readonly , return , rm , rmdir , rsync , sdiff , sed , select , seq , set , shift , shopt , shutdown , sleep , sort , split , su , sum , symlink , sync , tac , tail , tar , tee , test , time , times , top , touch , tr , traceroute , true , tsort , tty , type , ulimit , umask , uname , unexpand , uniq , units , unset , unshar , until , useradd , usermod , users , uuencode , watch , wc , whereis , which , while , who , xargs , yes ,
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