Working with 'find' command :

$ find

Search for files in a directory hierarchy

Syntax: $ find

Some of the more commonly used options include –

-name

The –name option simply searches for files that have the specified name.  It can incorporate wildcards as long as they are enclosed in quotation marks.

For eg – this command will return all the files that start with the file name - 'file'  located anywhere beneath the /root/good directory.

$ find / -name ‘file*’

Output:

[root ~/good 12:44:58] # find /root/good -name 'file*'

/root/good/file3.sh

/root/good/file1.sh

/root/good/file2.sh

-links

Search for any file with the specified number of links attached to it.

For eg – this command will return all files with 6 links in /home/che/test and its subdirectories.

$ find /home/che/test –links 6

Output:

[root ~/good 16:21:03] # ls -l /home/che/test

total 48

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4096 Aug 24 15:40 dir1

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4096 Aug 24 15:40 dir2

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4096 Aug 24 15:40 dir3

-rw-r--r-- 6 che solaris    0 Aug 24 16:19 one

-rw-r--r-- 6 che solaris    0 Aug 24 16:19 one_hlink1

-rw-r--r-- 6 che solaris    0 Aug 24 16:19 one_hlink2

-rw-r--r-- 6 che solaris    0 Aug 24 16:19 one_hlink3

-rw-r--r-- 6 che solaris    0 Aug 24 16:19 one_hlink4

-rw-r--r-- 6 che solaris    0 Aug 24 16:19 one_hlink5

[root ~/good 16:21:16] # find /home/che/test -links 6

/home/che/test/one_hlink3

/home/che/test/one_hlink1

/home/che/test/one

/home/che/test/one_hlink5

/home/che/test/one_hlink4

/home/che/test/one_hlink2

 

-type

Search for files of a certain type.

Syntax: $ find path –type <b/c/d/p/f/l/s>

Where -

b = Refers to block-special devices.

c = Refers to character-special devices.

d = Refers to directories.

p = Refers to named pipes.

f = Refers to ordinary files.

l = Refers to symbolic links.

s = Refers to sockets.

Output

[root ~/good 14:38:01] # find -type d

.

./dir2

./dir5

./dir4

./dir3

./dir1

./test

[root ~ 11:58:40] # find /root –type f ‘good’

/root/good

/root/test/good

Note: By default, if the path is not specified on the ‘find’ command to search, then it search the current directory

As Unix are case sensitive, to ignore the case, -iname option is used.

This can be useful if we are unsure of the exact case of a file name we are looking for.

Output:

 [root ~/good 12:52:22] # find -iname 'File*'

./file3.sh

./file1.sh

./file2.sh

  

To find the files that are modified recently. For example to find the files that are modified before/earlier/last 5 minutes -

# find -mmin -5

Where -

-mmin = modified minutes

Output:

[root ~/good 13:03:31] # ls -lh file*

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 53 Aug 24 13:02 file1.sh

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Aug 24 12:44 file2.sh

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Aug 24 12:44 file3.sh

[root ~/good 13:03:42] # echo "Updating the file named file2.sh for testing purpose" >> file2.sh

[root ~/good 13:04:04] # find -mmin -5

./file1.sh

./file2.sh

 

To find the files that are modified more than 5 min or older than that -

#find -mmin +5

Output:

[root ~/good 13:19:48] # find -mmin +5

.

./test_split_fileaj

./edit_file

./test_split_fileax

./test_mod_script_file

./du

./man

(Output Truncated...)

# find -mmin 5

            Displays the files that are exactly modified before 5 min.

 

To find the files that are modified 5 days back. For example to find the files that are modified before/earlier/last 5 days -

# find -mtime -5

Output:

 [root ~/good 13:28:40] # ls -lht | find -mtime -5

.

./file3.sh

./file1.sh

./file2.sh

./test

./test/test_file510:54:00-20_08_13

./test/example_file10:52:49-20_08_13

./test/test_file210:54:00-20_08_13

./test/test_file110:54:00-20_08_13

./test/test_file410:54:00-20_08_13

./test/test_file310:54:00-20_08_13

Where -

-mtime = number of days.

  

Note:

1.     Normally 'time' stands for 24 hour, hence here 5 means, 5 times of 24 (5x24)

2.     Alike  -mmin -5, -mmin +5 and -mmin 5, -mtime -5, -mtime +5 and -mtime 5 can be used.

3.     Alike -mmin, -cmin  and -amin do work.

4.     Alike -mtime, -ctime and -atime do work.

To list out the empty files (file without content)

Output:

[root ~/good 13:44:30] # ls -lh fname?

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 24 13:44 fname1

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 24 13:44 fname2

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 24 13:44 fname3

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 24 13:44 fname4

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 24 13:44 fname5

[root ~/good 13:44:38] # find -empty

./fname1

./fname4

./fname5

./fname3

./fname2

 

 

-size

Searches for any files approximately equal to a specified size, which is specified on the argument.  By default, the size indicates the number of 512 byte blocks of information.  You can specify a size in bytes by appending the c option or in kilo bytes by appending the k option.

To find the files with the size 10M.

# find -size 10M

Output:

[root ~/good 14:28:49] # find -size 10M

./new_file

./new_file2

./output.dat

To find the files with the size 10485760 bytes

Output:

[root ~/good 14:30:21] # find -size 10485760b

[root ~/good 14:30:31] # find -size 10485760c

./new_file

./new_file2

./output.dat

To find the files with the size 10240 kilo bytes

Output:

[root ~/good 14:33:41] # find -size 10240k

./new_file

./new_file2

./output.dat

Where -

M = mega bytes

c = bytes

k = kilo bytes

To list out only the directory.

# find -type d

Output:

[root ~/good 14:38:01] # find -type d

.

./dir2

./dir5

./dir4

./dir3

./dir1

./test

To find only the regular files with the size 10M

Output:

[root ~/good 14:37:48] # find -type f -size 10M

./new_file

./new_file2

./output.dat

To find the files owned by the user specified - 'che'

Output:

[root ~/good 14:45:17] # find /home -user che

/home/che

/home/che/.bashrc

/home/che/.bash_history

/home/che/.bash_profile

/home/che/.bash_logout

/home/che/test

/home/che/test/three

/home/che/test/one

/home/che/test/two

/home/che/.sh_history

To find the files owned by the group specified -

Output:

[root ~/good 14:52:31] # find /home -group solaris

/home/che/Unix

/home/che/world

/home/che/to

/home/che/of

/home/che/the

/home/che/welcome

/home/vcs1

/home/vcs1/.bashrc

/home/vcs1/.bash_profile

/home/vcs1/.bash_logout

[root ~/good 14:52:45] # ls -lh /home/che | grep solaris

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 of

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 the

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 to

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 Unix

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 welcome

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 world

To find the files having the permission 777 on the path /home -

Output:

[root ~/good 14:56:15] # find /home -perm 777

/home/che/to

/home/che/of

/home/che/the

[root ~/good 14:56:29] # ls -l /home/che

total 24

-rwxrwxrwx 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 of

-rwxrwxrwx 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 the

-rwxrwxrwx 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 to

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 Unix

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 welcome

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 world

To find and delete only the files owned by the specified group - 'vcs'

Output:

[root ~/good 15:01:45] # ls -lh /home/che

total 24K

-rwxrwxrwx 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 of

-rwxrwxrwx 1 che vcs     0 Aug 24 14:52 the

-rwxrwxrwx 1 che vcs     0 Aug 24 14:52 to

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 Unix

-rw-r--r-- 1 che vcs     0 Aug 24 14:52 welcome

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 world

[root ~/good 15:01:52] # find /home -group vcs -delete

[root ~/good 15:02:09] # ls -lh /home/che

total 12K

-rwxrwxrwx 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 of

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 Unix

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris 0 Aug 24 14:52 world

To find the files owned the specific user - 'che',  then execute the command - 'wc -l' and to display the same.

Output:

[root ~/good 15:07:06] # find /home -user che -exec wc -l {} \;

wc: /home/che: Is a directory

0 /home/che

107 /home/che/Unix

8 /home/che/.bashrc

58 /home/che/world

21 /home/che/.bash_history

114 /home/che/of

12 /home/che/.bash_profile

3 /home/che/.bash_logout

22 /home/che/.sh_history

To find and delete the files owned by the specific user 'che', delete the files getting confirmation -

# find /home/che/test -user che -type f -ok rm {} \;

Output:

[root ~/good 15:40:51] # ls -lh /home/che/test

total 36K

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4.0K Aug 24 15:40 dir1

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4.0K Aug 24 15:40 dir2

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4.0K Aug 24 15:40 dir3

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris    0 Aug 24 15:40 file1

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris    0 Aug 24 15:40 file2

-rw-r--r-- 1 che solaris    0 Aug 24 15:40 file3

[root ~/good 15:40:57] # find /home/che/test -user che -type f -ok rm {} \;

< rm ... /home/che/test/file1 > ? y

< rm ... /home/che/test/file2 > ? y

< rm ... /home/che/test/file3 > ? y

[root ~/good 15:41:40] # ls -lh /home/che/test

total 24K

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4.0K Aug 24 15:40 dir1

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4.0K Aug 24 15:40 dir2

drwxr-xr-x 2 che solaris 4.0K Aug 24 15:40 dir3

Where -

-ok = Key word prompts for confirmation before performing the delete/remove operation as requested.