How to Find Files and Folders in Linux

The find command is used to search and locate files and directories based on specified conditions such as file name, size, modification date, and other attributes. You can use it to search through your entire file system or within a specific directory.

It’s commonly used by system administrators and regular users to quickly locate files, especially in systems with a large number of files. Whether you’re looking for a lost document or need to perform bulk operations on a set of files that meet certain criteria, the find command can be an essential tool in managing and organizing your file system.

General syntax for find command:

$ find [OPTIONS] [PATH...] [EXPRESSION]

1. Search for specific file in a directory

find ./ExampleDir -name example.txt 

With the -name parameter, this command will attempt to search for a example.txt within the ExampleDir directory; and if found, will return path to the file.

./ExampleDir/subdir1/example.txt
./ExampleDir/subdir2/subsubdir/example.txt

2. Find and list files of same extension

find ./dirname -name *.txt

This command will search, within the ExampleDir directory, all files ending with the extension .txt. If found, each result will be returned in a new line.

./dirname/file1.txt
./dirname/file2.txt
./dirname/subdir/file3.txt
./dirname/subdir/another_subdir/file4.txt

3. Find and list empty files and empty sub-directories

find ./ExampleDir -empty

This command, with the -empty parameter, will find and list all empty files and empty sub-folders inside the ExampleDir folder.

Definition of empty file being 0 bytes filesize, and empty folder being no files or files with 0 bytes.

4. Find and list files that contain specific text

find ./ExampleDir -type f -name "*.txt" -exec grep 'Example'  {} \;

This command searches for the word/string "Example" inside files with the extension .txt inside ExampleDir dierctory.

./ExampleDir/file1.txt:This is an Example line in file1.
./ExampleDir/subdir/file2.txt:Another Example in a different file.
./ExampleDir/file3.txt:Example usage of the find command.

5. Find and list files and sub-directories own by specific user

find ./ExampleDir -user ubuntu

This command, with the -user parameter, will find files and sub-directories owned by Ubuntu user in ExampleDir directory. If found, the filename(s) will be returned.

In the following sample ls -l result:

-rw-rw-r-- 1 newone ubuntu 20 Jan 27 06:24 example.txt

newone represents group name, and ubuntu is the user.

6. Find and list files and sub-directories own by specific group

find ./ExampleDir -group ubuntu

This command, with the -group paramter, will find all files and sub-directories owned by Ubuntu group in ExampleDir directory. If found, the filename(s) will be returned.

More Linux commands: