find

Basic Usage

1. Look for Executable Files

find . -executable

2. Look for Broken Links

find . -xtype l

3. Based on Content Changes

find . -mtime -1

• Explanation: Finds files that were modified in the last day.

4. Based on Metadata or Attribute Changes

find /path/to/directory -ctime -2

• Explanation: Finds files where metadata or attributes were changed in the last two days.

5. Based on Last Accessed Time

find /path/to/directory -atime -1

• Explanation: Finds files that were accessed in the last day.

6. Changed in the Last Hour

find /path/to/directory -mmin -60

• Explanation: Finds files modified within the last 60 minutes.

7. Changed Earlier than a Specific Date

find . -type f -newermt 2019-07-24

• Explanation: Finds files modified after July 24, 2019.

Hardlink

find /path/to/directory -samefile myfile.txt

Sorting and Filtering

Sort by Size

find . -size +10G

• Explanation: Finds files larger than 10 GiB.

Tip: You can use the following size suffixes: - ‘k’ for kibibytes (KiB) - ‘M’ for mebibytes (MiB) - ‘G’ for gibibytes (GiB)

Using Wildcards

• []: Matches the characters that appear within the square brackets.

• *: Matches any character sequence of any length (including none). For example:

  • A search for *at will match “cat”, “hat”, and “bat”.

Example: Excluding Specific Characters

• [!char]: Excludes specific characters inside the square brackets.

Visual Guide

Searching Files via Permissions

Finding Files with Specific Permissions

Finding Files with SUID (Set User ID)

find / -user root -perm -4000

• Explanation: Finds files owned by the root user with SUID permissions set.

---