find : 11 Practical examples for searching for files

find is a powerful command on Linux, it allows you to search for files and folders using different criteria: name, size, type, owner.

In this guide, you will see some useful commands for files and folders.

Search files by name in the current directory :

# find  .  -name  document.txt

This command allows you to search for files whose name is « document.txt » (using the -name parameter) in the current directory (indicated by the dot « . »)

Search files by name in a specified directory :

# find  /root  -name *.log

The command finds files that end with « .log » in the / root directory.

Search for a directory by name :

# find  /home  -type  d  -name  document

The command finds directories ( using the -type parameter ) whose name is « document ».

Find empty files :

# find  /  -type f  -empty

The command displays all empty files (-empty) present in the « / » root.

Search for empty folders :

# find  /  -type d  -empty

The command displays all empty folders (-empty) present in the « / » root.

Find hidden files:

# find /var -type f -name ".*"

The command displays all hidden files that are located in the /var directory.

Find all files owned by the root user :

# find / -user  root  -name  log

Find all files owned by the group « training »

# find  / -group   formation  -name log

Find files modified 25 days ago

# find  / -mtime 25

Find files modified 2 hours ago :

# find  / -mmin 120

Search for files whose size is 65M :

# find  / -size 65M

Find files between 120M and 40M in size :

# find  / -size +40M -size -120M