From Luke Jackson

find -- Linux/Unix/Mac OS X find command

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Syntax 3 Usage 4 Examples 4.1 Modified Files 4.2 Find by Name 4.3 Tree Command Emulator 4.4 Regex 5 Windows XP 5.1 Examples 5.1.1 File Count

Introduction

You can use find to find things. It is very helpful when are you are trying to find things like files on your computer.

Syntax

Usage: find [path...] [expression]

default path is the current directory; default expression is -print
expression may consist of: operators, options, tests, and actions:

operators (decreasing precedence; -and is implicit where no others are given):
      ( EXPR )   ! EXPR   -not EXPR   EXPR1 -a EXPR2   EXPR1 -and EXPR2
      EXPR1 -o EXPR2   EXPR1 -or EXPR2   EXPR1 , EXPR2

positional options (always true): -daystart -follow -regextype

normal options (always true, specified before other expressions):
      -depth --help -maxdepth LEVELS -mindepth LEVELS -mount -noleaf
      --version -xdev -ignore_readdir_race -noignore_readdir_race

tests (N can be +N or -N or N): -amin N -anewer FILE -atime N -cmin N
      -cnewer FILE -ctime N -empty -false -fstype TYPE -gid N -group NAME
      -ilname PATTERN -iname PATTERN -inum N -iwholename PATTERN -iregex PATTERN
      -links N -lname PATTERN -mmin N -mtime N -name PATTERN -newer FILE
      -nouser -nogroup -path PATTERN -perm [+-]MODE -regex PATTERN
      -wholename PATTERN -size N[bcwkMG] -true -type [bcdpflsD] -uid N
      -used N -user NAME -xtype [bcdpfls]

actions: -delete -print0 -printf FORMAT -fprintf FILE FORMAT -print 
      -fprint0 FILE -fprint FILE -ls -fls FILE -prune -quit
      -exec COMMAND ; -exec COMMAND {} + -ok COMMAND ;
      -execdir COMMAND ; -execdir COMMAND {} + -okdir COMMAND ;

Usage

find <file or folder>

Examples

Modified Files

List all recently modified files in a directory.

find [folder] -mtime <days>
find . -type f -mtime -20

Find by Name

Find all files in all sub-directories by Name, Regular Expression, Wild Card.

find . -name '*.svg'

Tree Command Emulator

find . -print | sed -e 's;[^/]*/;|____;g;s;____|; |;g' > file_structure.txt

Regex

ll -1d */pixel/*trans* | xargs -IX find -E X -regex '.*(.png|.jpg)' | wc -l

find . -regex '.*[0-9]\{8\}\.svg' | grep black | xargs -IX grep -HE 'Transcription' X

find /local/folder/ -name '*.svg' -printf "%A@,%h,%f\n"

find /local/folder/*6163*/ -regex ".+\.\(png\|svg\)" -printf "%h,%f,%A@\n" | sed -E "s/[^,]+_x([0-9]+)_f[^,]+,([^,]+),([^,\.]+)\..+/\1,\2,\3/"

find /local/folder/20*/ -regex ".+\.\(png\|svg\)" -printf "%h,%f,%A@\n" | sed -E "s/[^,]+f10\/([^,\/]+)[^,]+,([^,]+),([^,\.]+)\..+/\1,\2,\3/"

find /local/folder/*6163*/ -regex ".+\.\(png\|svg\)" -printf "%f,%c\n" | sed -E "s/([^,]+),([^,\.]+)\.[^ ]+ ([0-9]{4})/\1,\2 \3/"

Windows XP

Examples

File Count

Return the count of files in the current directory, excluding directories. Note: the /V "" removes any blank lines that could appear.

dir /b /a-d | find /c /v ""