Linux Find Command: 25 Examples

Introduction to the Find Command

The Linux find command is one of the most powerful and frequently used commands for searching files and directories. It supports searching by name, size, modification time, permissions, and much more.

This guide provides 25 practical examples of the find command with realistic outputs to help you master file searching in Linux.

1. Find Files by Name

find /home/user -name "*.txt"

/home/user/document.txt /home/user/notes.txt /home/user/docs/report.txt

2. Case-Insensitive Search

find . -iname "*.JPG"

./vacation/beach.jpg ./photos/SUNSET.Jpg

3. Find Directories Only

find /var -type d -name "log*"

/var/log /var/log/apt

4. Find Regular Files Only

find . -type f -name "config*"

./project/config.json ./app/config.ini

5. Find Files Modified in Last 24 Hours

find /tmp -type f -mtime -1

/tmp/temporary_file.tmp /tmp/cache_data.dat

6. Find Files Modified More Than 30 Days Ago

find /var/log -type f -mtime +30

/var/log/syslog.2.gz /var/log/auth.log.3.gz

7. Find Files by Size (Greater than 10MB)

find /home -type f -size +10M

/home/user/videos/movie.mp4 /home/user/backup.tar.gz

8. Find Empty Files and Directories

find . -empty

./empty_dir ./temp/empty_file.txt

9. Find Files with Specific Permissions

find . -type f -perm 644

./index.html ./style.css ./script.js

10. Find Executable Files

find /usr/bin -type f -executable

/usr/bin/ls /usr/bin/cp /usr/bin/mv

11. Find Files and Execute Command

find . -name "*.tmp" -exec rm {} \;

(No output if successful, files are deleted)

12. Find Files and Display Info

find . -name "*.conf" -exec ls -l {} \;

-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 1024 Jan 15 10:30 ./app.conf -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 2048 Feb 20 14:25 ./server.conf

13. Find Files and Copy Them

find /source -name "*.jpg" -exec cp {} /destination \;

(Files are copied silently)

14. Find Files by Multiple Criteria

find . -name "*.log" -size +1M -mtime +7

./logs/application.log ./logs/error.log

15. Find Files and Count Them

find /var/www -name "*.php" | wc -l

16. Find Files and Sort by Size

find . -type f -name "*.mp4" -exec du -h {} \; | sort -rh

1.5G ./movies/movie1.mp4 800M ./videos/tutorial.mp4 250M ./clips/demo.mp4

17. Find Files by Owner

find /home -user john -name "*.docx"

/home/john/documents/report.docx /home/john/work/proposal.docx

18. Find Files by Group

find /var/www -group www-data -name "*.php"

/var/www/html/index.php /var/www/html/config.php

19. Find Files and Archive Them

find . -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -exec tar -czf old_logs.tar.gz {} +

(Creates archive file)

20. Find Files and Change Permissions

find . -name "*.sh" -exec chmod +x {} \;

(Permissions changed silently)

21. Find Files and Search Within

find . -name "*.txt" -exec grep -l "error" {} \;

./logs/system.txt ./errors/application.txt

22. Find Files and Delete with Confirmation

find /tmp -name "*.tmp" -ok rm {} \;

< rm ... /tmp/file1.tmp > ? y < rm ... /tmp/file2.tmp > ? n

23. Find Files by Depth

find . -maxdepth 2 -name "*.conf"

./app.conf ./config/database.conf

24. Find Files with Custom Format

find . -name "*.py" -printf "%p - %s bytes - %Tb %Td %TY\n"

./script.py - 1024 bytes - Jan 15 2023 ./utils/helper.py - 2048 bytes - Feb 20 2023

25. Find Files and Exclude Directories

find . -name "*.js" -not -path "./node_modules/*"

./app.js ./src/main.js ./public/script.js

Find Command Options Summary

Option	Description
`-name`	Search by filename
`-iname`	Case-insensitive name search
`-type`	File type (f=file, d=directory)
`-size`	File size (+n = larger, -n = smaller)
`-mtime`	Modification time (days)
`-user`	File owner
`-exec`	Execute command on found files
`-delete`	Delete found files
`-maxdepth`	Limit search depth
`-perm`	Search by permissions