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Find Cheatsheet

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Find Cheatsheet

Basic Search

Find files and directories by name.

Command Description
find . -name "file.txt" Find an exact filename
find . -iname "readme.md" Case-insensitive name search
find /etc -name "*.conf" Find by extension
find . -type d -name "backup" Find directories by name

Filter by Type

Limit results to file system object type.

Command Description
find . -type f Regular files only
find . -type d Directories only
find . -type l Symlinks only
find . -type f -name "*.log" Files with a specific extension
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f Search current directory only
find . -type f -empty Find empty files
find . -type d -empty Find empty directories

Size Filters

Find files by size.

Command Description
find . -type f -size +100M Larger than 100 MB
find . -type f -size -10M Smaller than 10 MB
find . -type f -size 1G Exactly 1 GB
find /var -type f -size +500M Large files under /var

Time Filters

Filter by file modification, access, and change times.

Command Description
find . -type f -mtime -7 Modified in last 7 days
find . -type f -mtime +30 Modified more than 30 days ago
find . -type f -atime -1 Accessed in last 24 hours
find . -type f -ctime -3 Metadata changed in last 3 days
find . -type f -mmin -60 Modified in last 60 minutes

Permissions and Ownership

Find files based on permissions and owners.

Command Description
find . -type f -perm 644 Exact permission match
find . -type f -perm -u+w User-writable files
find / -type f -user root Files owned by user
find /srv -type f -group www-data Files owned by group

Excluding Paths

Skip directories from search results.

Command Description
find . -path ./node_modules -prune -o -type f -print Exclude one directory
find . ( -path ./node_modules -o -path ./.git ) -prune -o -type f -print Exclude multiple directories
find . -type f ! -name "*.log" Exclude one filename pattern
find . -type f ! -path "*/cache/*" Exclude by path pattern

Actions (-exec, -delete)

Run commands on matched files.

Command Description
find . -type f -name "*.tmp" -delete Delete matches
find . -type f -name "*.log" -exec gzip {} ; Run command per file
find . -type f -name "*.jpg" -exec mv {} /tmp/images/ ; Move matched files
find . -type f -name "*.conf" -exec grep -H "listen" {} ; Search text in matched files
find . -type f -name "*.log" -exec rm {} + Batch delete (faster than ;)

Safer Bulk Operations

Use null-delimited output for safe piping.

Command Description
find . -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | xargs -0 rm -f Safely remove files with spaces
find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 ls -lh Safe batch listing
find . -type f -name "*.log" -print0 | xargs -0 du -h Safe size report for matches
find . -type f -name "*.bak" -print0 | xargs -0 -I{} mv "{}" /tmp/backup/ Safe batch move

Common Options

Useful flags to remember.

Option Description
-name Match filename (case-sensitive)
-iname Match filename (case-insensitive)
-type Filter by file type
-size Filter by size
-mtime Filter by modification time (days)
-maxdepth Limit recursion depth
-mindepth Skip top levels
-prune Exclude directories
-exec Execute command on matches
-empty Find empty files/directories
-mmin Filter by modification time (minutes)
-delete Delete matched files