Finding find - A Reference

Luis F. Guzmán
luis.guzman@att.net
Central Indiana Linux Users Group
www.cinlug.org

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Find files with a given name
3. Find a file using a shell pattern
4. Find a file using a regular expression
5. Search for a string
6. Change owner/group on a directory sub-tree
7. Find file types
8. Find files with different modification, access, and status times
9. Find files with specific permissions
10. Find files with specific permissions - wildcards
11. During search, ignore a directory and files under it

Introduction

The find command is one of the most useful and flexible. It can greatly simplify administrative tasks, such as, deleting files that are older than a particular date or modifying the owner and group of files in many directories. It can also find files that have been modified after a particular date or time. It can find executable files, read-only files, block files, character files, directory files, etc. However, due to its many options, tests, actions, and operators, it can be intimidating. These examples are meant to serve as a reference. They illustrate some of the most common features of find. It is assumed that the reader knows the basics of the Linux/UNIX shell, as well as the basics of the find command. This document is a complement of the man pages for find; it is not a substitute.

Find files with a given name

In the current directory sub-tree, find all files named "resume.ps:"

    $ find . -name resume.ps -print

In the current directory sub-tree, Remove all files named "core:"

    $ find . -name core -type f -exec rm {} \;

Find a file using a shell pattern

In the current directory sub-tree, find all files which name ends with .c or .C:

    $ find . -name '*.[cC]' -print

In the current directory sub-tree, find and compress files that don't end with .Z:

    $ compress `find . -type f \! -name '*.Z' -print`

Find a file using a regular expression

In the current directory sub-tree, find any files which path includes "RCS" and ends with "tcl,v:"

    $ find . -regex '.*RCS.*tcl,v$' -print

Search for a string

Search two directory sub-trees, /src and /local/src, for files containing the string "Where are you" and print the file names:

    $ find /src /local/src -exec grep -l 'Where are you' {} \;

Change owner/group on a directory sub-tree

Change owner and group for all files and directories in a directory sub-tree to owner "luis" and group "users."

    $ find /subtree/path -exec chown luis:users {} \;

Find file types

Change permissions on all regular files in a directory sub-tree to mode 444:

    $ find /subtree/path -type f -print | xargs chmod 444

Change permissions on all directories in a directory sub-tree to mode 555:

    $ find /subtree/path -type d -print | xargs chmod 555

Find files with different modification, access, and status times

Find all files in the current directory sub-tree that had their status changed one day ago:

    $ find . -ctime 1 -print

Find all files in the current directory sub-tree that have been modified in the last 90 minutes:

    $ find . -mmin -90 -print

Remove all files named a.out or *.o that have not been accessed for a week:

    $ find / \( -name a.out -o -name '*.o'\) -atime +7 -exec rm {} \;

Find files with specific permissions

Find files which permissions match 444 (r--r--r--):

    $ find -perm 444 -print

Find files with specific permissions - wildcards

Find files with permissions that match: **x******, where * can be any mode:

    $ find . -perm -100 -print

Find files with permissions that match: r**r**r**, where * can be any mode:

    $ find . -perm -444 -print

Find files with permissions that match: **x***rw*, where * can be any mode:

    $ find . -perm -106 -print

Find files which are executable by their user, group, or others (any of their executable permission bits is set):

    $ find . -perm +111 -print

Find files which are executable or writable by others:

    $ find . -perm +003 -print

Find files with permissions that match: ***r-x***, where * can be any mode:

    $ find . -perm -050 ! -perm +020 -print

Find files with permissions that match ***r--***, where * can be any mode:

    $ find . -perm -040 ! -perm +030 -print

During search, ignore a directory and files under it

Skip RCS directories, but list remaining files with permissions 444 (r--r--r--):

    $ find . -path '*RCS*' -prune -o -perm 444 -print

Note: the -print option is important in the example above. It does not work properly without it?!

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This document is maintained by: Luis F. Guzmán