How to Search for Files in Linux

The find command allows you to search for files based on name, type, size, and modification time.


A. Search by File Name

find /home -name "file.txt"

/home → Directory to search in.

-name "file.txt" → Searches for a file with an exact name.

Case-Insensitive Search:


find /home -iname "file.txt"

Use -iname to ignore case differences.


B. Search by File Type

find /home -type f -name "*.pdf"

-type f → Searches only for files (not directories).

-name "*.pdf" → Finds all .pdf files.

C. Search by File Size

find / -size +100M

Finds files larger than 100MB.

Replace + with - to find files smaller than the specified size.

D. Search by Modification Date

find / -mtime -7

Finds files modified in the last 7 days.

2. Using locate for Fast Searches

The locate command is faster than find as it searches a pre-built index of files.


A. Install locate (if not installed)

sudo apt install mlocate   # Debian/Ubuntu  

sudo yum install mlocate   # RHEL/CentOS  

sudo pacman -S mlocate     # Arch Linux  

B. Update the File Index

sudo updatedb

C. Search for a File

locate file.txt

Tip: Use locate -i for case-insensitive searches.


3. Using grep to Search Inside Files

The grep command helps locate files containing specific text.


A. Search for a Word in a File

grep -r "error" /var/log/

-r → Recursively searches all files in /var/log/.

B. Search for a Word in .txt Files

grep "password" *.txt

4. Using which, whereis, and type for Executable Files

A. Find the Location of a Program (which)

which python

Returns: /usr/bin/python (or similar).


B. Locate System Files (whereis)

whereis firefox

Displays paths for the binary, source, and manual pages.


C. Check If a Command Exists (type)

type ls

5. Using GUI Search Tools

For users who prefer graphical search tools:


GNOME Files (Nautilus) → Press Ctrl + F in Files.

KFind (KDE) → Run kfind for advanced search options.

Catfish → A lightweight search tool for Linux.

6. Using fd (Faster Alternative to find)

The fd command is a modern and faster alternative to find.


A. Install fd

bash

sudo apt install fd-find   # Debian/Ubuntu  

sudo pacman -S fd          # Arch Linux  

B. Search for a File

fd "file"

Finds all files containing "file" in their name.


7. Using ranger (Terminal File Manager)

For a visual file manager inside the terminal:


A. Install ranger

sudo apt install ranger

B. Open ranger

ranger

Use / inside ranger to search for files interactively.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Absolute and relative path in HTML pages

HTML documents can have relative or absolute links to other web pages. Relative links keeps a visitor on the same web site. Relative links are pointers to other web pages on the same web site. They just contain this page filename. Absolute links on other hand contain full path including protocol and domain name to access the page. Absolute links can point to the same web site or they can point to a different web site.
Read more

Errors

It is a good idea to send errors in production environment to error log. Errors may contain sensitive information. Even so errors maybe helpful to development team or to QA team, errors need to be suppressed in production environment for viewing by everyone. Errors are good way to troubleshoot an issue therefore only trusted people can have access to this information. If not a trusted person get an access to this information, this information maybe used against the company and for a personal benefit. What to do in a case when there are more servers than one? Even so it is possible to inspect the log files in a single server, however it is impossible to do so when there is more than one server is available and web traffic is redirected to a different server each time. Log aggregation is needed in this case. All of the logs will be send to a central location. Logs may contain sensitive information. Please consult your company lawyer of how long logs can be stored, because logs can be use...
Read more

goto PHP operator

goto operator will skip execution of code and continue execution of a code that follows a label to which goto operator points to. If code has many goto operators, than this code probably needs a revision. It is possible to write code that executes without goto operators.
Read more