Linux Files Operation: find and Execute Command on Directories and Files

Introduction

The find command on Ubuntu is a powerful tool for searching and locating files and directories within a file system. It allows you to search for files based on various criteria such as file name, file type, size, and modification time.

You can check find manual page at this link.

Basic Usage of find

The find command allows you to search for files and directories within a specified path. Its syntax is straightforward:

find [path] [expression]

The path is the directory you want to search in, and [expression] defines how find filters results. For instance:

Basic Examples of find command

This command searches for “myfile.txt” within the /home directory:

find /home -name "myfile.txt"

Find files with a specific extension

find /path/to/search -name "*.log"

Using Filters and Options

find supports various options for refined searches. The -name option matches file names, while -type d and -type f search for directories and files, respectively. For example, to find all directories in /var, use:

find /var -type d

You can also use find with operators like -size to find files of a specific size, -mtime to filter by modification time, and -user to search for files owned by a specific user. Here’s how to find files modified within the last two days:

find / -mtime -2

Combining Commands with -exec

The -exec option lets you run a command on each file found. For example, to delete all .tmp files:

find /tmp -name "*.tmp" -exec rm {} \;

Other usefull examples

Find files modified within the last N days:

find /path/to/search -mtime -7

Find and delete files:

find /path/to/search -name "obsolete_file.txt" -delete

Search for directories:

find /path/to/search -type d -name "directory_name"

Combine multiple criteria: This command finds all “.txt” files larger than 1 megabyte and displays detailed information using ls:

find /path/to/search -name "*.txt" -size +1M -exec ls -l {} \;

More articles with similar topic:

• Linux Files Operation: find Temp Files and Execute Commands on Found Files
• Find the Largest Files and Folders on Linux
• Solutions: Find and Delete Log Data or Any Files Older Than 30 Days on Linux

About The Author