SoFunction
Updated on 2025-04-13

Complete guide to Linux find commands and core usage

findIt is the most powerful file search tool on Linux system and supportsNested traversal, conditional filtering, and execution of actions. The following analyzes the core usage through scene classification, covering efficient search, file management and advanced skills:

1. Basic search mode

1. Search by file name (exact/fuzzy matching)

<BASH>

find /path -name "*.log"       # Exact match .log suffix (case sensitive)find /home -iname "*.TXT"      # Fuzzy match .txt suffix (ignoring case)find . -name "data_[0-9].csv"  # Use wildcards [] ? * match

2. Exclude specified directory/file

find /var/log -path "/var/log/nginx" -prune -o -name "*.log"  # Exclude nginx directoryfind . -not -name "*.tmp"     # Exclude all .tmp document

2. Filter according to file type

use-typeFilter file types:

  • f: General files
  • d: Table of contents
  • l: Symbol link
  • s: Sockets
  • p: Named Pipeline
find /opt -type d -name "config"        # Search for a directory called configfind ~/ -type f -empty                  # Find the empty file under the current userfind /tmp -type l -ls                  # List /tmp All symbolic link details below

3. Time dimension search

Filter by time (file modification time-mtime/ Access time-atime）：

  • +n: n days ago
  • -n: In the last n days
  • n: Just n days ago
find . -mtime -7           # Find files modified in the past 7 daysfind /var/log -mtime +30 -name "*.log"  # search 30 Log files from day one

Accurate control at minute levels (-mmin）：

find /tmp -mmin -10       # Find the past 10 Files modified within minutes

4. File size search

use-size(Unit:c= bytes,k=KB, M=MB, G=GB）：

  • +n: greater than n
  • -n: less than n
  • n: equal to n
find / -size +100M        # Global search for files greater than 100MB (use the root directory with caution)find ~/Downloads -size -5k  # Find Downloads Smaller than 5KB Files

5. Permissions and ownership filtering

1. Search by permission bit (numeric or symbol mode)

find . -perm 644           # Exactly match files with permissions of 644find /etc -perm -u=r       # User-readable file (permissions include r)find /bin -perm /u=s       # Include SUID Files

2. Filter by user/group

find /var -user www-data   # Files belonging to www-data usersfind /home -group dev      # belong dev Group of files

6. Combination conditions and logical operations

  • -a (-and): Logical and (default)
  • -o (-or) : Logical or
  • ! (-not) : Logical non
  • use()Grouping (requires escape)
find /data \( -name "*.jpg" -o -name "*.png" \) -size +2M  # Find JPG or PNG and greater than 2MBfind . -type f ! -name "*.tmp"    # Exclude all .tmp document

7. Perform subsequent actions (-exec and xargs)

1. Execute the command directly (-exec）

find . -name "*.bak" -exec rm -f {} \;       # Delete all .bak files (execute after confirmation)find /var/log -type f -mtime +30 -exec gzip {} \;  # compression 30 Log files from day one

2. CombinationxargsImprove efficiency

find /tmp -name "core.*" -print0 | xargs -0 rm -f  # Safe processing of file names containing spaces

3. Delete files (built-in action)

find . -type f -name "*.tmp" -delete        # Delete directly（-delete Must be put at the end）

8. Advanced search scenarios

1. Find small files that occupy inode

find /path -type f -size +0c -links 1 -exec ls -i {} \;  # Non-hard link standalone files

2. Find duplicate files (according to MD5)

find . -type f -exec md5sum {} + | sort | uniq -w32 -dD  # Generate checksum comparison duplicates

9. Safety inspection skills

1. Search for suspicious SUID/SGID files

find / -perm /4000 -user root 2&gt;/dev/null   # SUID and the owner is rootfind / -perm /2000 -group root 2&gt;/dev/null  # SGID And the group is root

2. Find global writable files

find / -xdev -type f -perm -0002 ! -perm -1000  # Ignore files in sticky bit directory

10. Performance optimization suggestions

Limited search depth:-maxdepthand-mindepth

find /var/log -maxdepth 2 -name "*.log"   # Search only two-layer directory

Skip specific file systems：-xdev(Not cross file system)

find / -xdev -name "lost+found"          # Search only on the current file system

Summarize

  • Core mode：find [path] [condition] [action], flexibly combine conditions to achieve accurate search.
  • Safety first: It is recommended to use it before deletion or modification.-printor-lsConfirm the target file.
  • Efficiency priority: In high load scenarios, try to minimize full disk scanning and use it reasonably-xargsImprove performance.

This is the end of this article about the complete guide to Linux find commands. For more related contents of Linux find commands, please search for my previous articles or continue browsing the related articles below. I hope everyone will support me in the future!