Using FIND to search better

Basic Use of FIND

If you are looking to find a file, one of the commonest tools is used Find. Here is a recap.

S/No	File Type	Description
1	type -f	Limits search results to files only
2	type -d	Limits search results to directories only
3	type -l	Limits search results to symbolic links only

For example, search for a case-insensitive file named “hello.mov”

find $HOME -type -iname "Hello.mov"

S/No	Parameters	Description
1	-name	Perform a case-sensitive search for “files”
2	-iname	Perform a case-insensitive search for “files”
3	size +n	Matches files of size larger than size n
4	size -n	Matches files of size smaller than size n
5	-mtime n	Matches files or directories whose contents were last modified n*24 hours ago
6	-atime n	Matches files last access n*24 hours ago

For example, search for all case-insensitive files with the extension *mov 2 days ago

find $HOME -type -iname "*.mov" -mtime 2

S/No	Operator	Explanation
1	-and	Match for both sides of the operators
2	-or	Match for either test of the operators
3	-note	Don’t match the test of the operators

For example, search for all files with Hello*, but excl ude pdf and jpg

find \( -name "Hello*" -mtime 2 \) -and -not \( -iname "*.jpg" -or -iname "*.pdf" \)

When using the () to combine tests, remember to escape the (\) brackets. You will need to leave a space after you open and close the brackets

Using FIND and EXEC

find -type f -iname "*.mov" -exec chmod +x {} \;

The first part find -type f -iname”*.mov” will not be explained….. Executed commands must end with \; (a backslash and semi-colon) and may use {} (curly braces) as a placeholder for each file that the find command locates.

References:

1. Linux Format – March Edition
2. Use the Unix find command to search for files