How
to search files from the terminal on Linux
While
there are many ways with which we can search and locate files and
directories on Linux, the easiest and quickest is probably through
the terminal. However, not many Linux users know about that, which
leads to unneeded frustration. Here is a quick guide that will
hopefully help you find what you're looking for in your system.
As
an example, I want to search for a file that contains a poster in my
computer. I know that the filename contains the word “poster” in
it, but I don't exactly remember the name.In a terminal I enter the
below command:
sudo
find / -iname "*poster*"
The
command “find” actually is searching your disks for the files and
directories that the user is looking for. ( with parameter “-iname”,
I could get results with no regards to letter case).
Find
is perfect for when you're trying to locate a file or a directory but
you can't remember its name, because “find” can search for files
that belong to a certain user or group of users, files that were
modified or accessed recently, files that of a specific size range,
hidden files, executables, read-only files, and files with certain
permissions. The best part is that a user is free to combine multiple
of the above criteria in one “find” command, essentially
narrowing down the results.
Speaking
of narrowing down, the first thing that you want to do when running
“find” is to tell it to search on a specific directory. This will
speed up the search process significantly, but always depending on
the size of the directory. If you know where the file might be, open
the terminal, navigate to the directory and run “find .
[filename]”. That dot tells find to search on the current
directory. If you want to search your Home directory instead, replace
the dot with “~/”, and if you want to search your whole
filesystem, use “/” instead.
