Linux find Command: Search for Files

find searches a directory, and everything inside it, for files and folders that match what you ask for: a name, a size, a date and more. It can then run a command on everything it finds, which makes it one of the most useful tools on the Linux command line.

How a find command is built

find [where to look] [what to match] [what to do]

For example, find /home -name "*.pdf" looks in /home for files ending in .pdf. Use . to search the current directory. If you leave out the action, find simply lists what it finds.

Search by name

find . -name "report.txt"

Finds files called report.txt in the current directory and below.

find . -iname "*.jpg"

Finds files ending in .jpg, ignoring upper and lower case, so photo.JPG is found too. Put patterns in quotes so the shell doesn't expand the * first.

find . -type d -name "backup*"

Finds only directories (-type d) whose names start with backup. Use -type f for files only.

find / -name "test*" 2>/dev/null

Searches the whole system for anything starting with test. Adding 2>/dev/null hides the "Permission denied" messages for folders you can't read. Put sudo in front to search everywhere.

Search by size and date

find . -type f -size +100M

Finds files bigger than 100 MB. Handy when a disk is filling up. Use - for smaller than (-size -10k). A size with no + or - matches files of about that exact size.

find . -type f -mtime -7

Finds files changed in the last 7 days. -mtime +30 finds files not changed for more than 30 days.

find . -type f -mmin -60

Finds files changed in the last 60 minutes.

find . -type f -empty

Finds empty files.

Do something with the results

find . -name "*.log" -exec grep -l "error" {} +

Searches inside every .log file and lists the ones that contain the word error. The {} is replaced by the files that were found.

find . -type f -name "*.tmp" -mtime +30 -delete

Deletes .tmp files that haven't been changed for more than 30 days.

Check before you delete. Always run the command without -delete first and check the list of files. There's no recycle bin, and -delete removes everything that matches.

Advanced examples

find . -type f -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td\t%TH:%TM:%.2TS\t%P\n' \
 | sort -n \
 | cut -f3

Lists every file in the current directory and below, sorted by the time it was last changed, with the most recent last.

find . -type f -size +2M -exec file -N --mime-type {} + \
 | grep ': image/' \
 | cut -d: -f1

Finds all images over 2 MB, whatever their name or extension, by checking what type of file each one really is.

find . -type f -size +2M \( -iname '*.png' -o -iname '*.jpg' -o -iname '*.jpeg' -o -iname '*.gif' \)

A faster way to find images over 2 MB, by file extension. -o means "or", and the brackets group the choices together. Images with other extensions, such as .bmp, won't be found.

find . -regex '.*/20[0-9][0-9]-07-10-[A-Z][a-z][a-z]-\(0[8-9]\|1[0-7]\)-[0-9][0-9]-[0-9][0-9]\.jpg'

Uses a regular expression to find photos taken on 10 July between 8:00 am and 5:59 pm, when the file names look like 2001-07-10-Tue-17-55-01.jpg. A regex has to match the whole path, which is why it starts with .*/.

Quick reference

Option	Matches
`-name` / `-iname`	File name (-iname ignores case)
`-type f` / `-type d`	Files only / directories only
`-size +100M`	Bigger than 100 MB (k, M and G work)
`-mtime -7`	Changed in the last 7 days
`-mmin -60`	Changed in the last 60 minutes
`-empty`	Empty files and directories
`-regex`	Whole path matches a regular expression
`-o`	Or (combine with `\( \)`)
`-exec cmd {} +`	Run a command on the results
`-delete`	Delete the results (test first)