Command Structure

The find command syntax consists of three primary components:

find /etc -name "passwd"

The first segment is the commmand itself, followed by the target directory path. Multiple paths can be specified:

find /etc /var /usr -name "passwd"

The third segment contains expressions that define search criteria and actions. Expressions fall into four categories:

• Tests: File attribute conditions
• Actions: Operations on matched files
• Global Options: Search constraints like depth limits
• Positional Options: Location-based conditions

Time-Based Searching

Time parameters use numeric arguments with modifiers:

• +n: Greater than n
• -n: Less than n
• n: Exactly n

Example with modification time:

find /var/log -mtime 3 -ls

This finds files modified exactly 3*24 hours ago. Other time parameters:

• -ctime: Change time in days
• -atime: Access time in days
• -mmin: Modification time in minutes
• -cmin: Change time in minutes
• -amin: Access time in minutes

Compare files using time references:

find /home -newer /var/log/lastlog

User and Permission Filters

User-based filtering:

find /opt -user daemon -ls
find /var -group wheel -ls
find /tmp -nouser -o -nogroup

Permission matching:

find /usr/bin -perm 755 -ls
find /etc -perm /u=rwx,g=rx -ls
find /srv -perm -644 -executable

Path and Name Matching

Name pattern matching:

find /usr/include -name "*.h" -ls
find /etc -iname "*CONF*" -type f
find /var -lname "*/tmp/*" -ls

Path-based searching:

find /usr -path "*/local/*" -name "lib"
find /etc -regex ".*[0-9]\\.conf$"

File Attributes and Conditions

Size filtering:

find /var -size +100M -ls
find /tmp -size -1k -empty
find /home -type f -size 10G -o -size +20G

Other attributes:

find /dev -type b -o -type c
find /etc -links +5 -ls
find /usr -inum 12345 -ls

File Operations

Basic output actions:

find /tmp -name "core" -fprint /var/log/core_files.log
find /var/tmp -mtime +30 -print0 | xargs -0 ls -l

Safe deletion with confirmation:

find /tmp -name "*.tmp" -mtime +7 -ok rm {} \;

Command Execution Methods

Single file processing:

find /var/log -name "*.log.1" -exec gzip {} \;

Batch processing:

find /home/projects -name "*.java" -exec cp -t /backup/ {} +

Directory context execution:

find /etc/nginx -name "*.conf" -execdir nginx -t -c {} \;

Logical Operators

Combining conditions:

find / \( -name "*.tmp" -o -name "*.temp" \) -mtime +30
find /home \( -user alice -a -size +1G \) -o \( -user bob -a -name "*.iso" \)

Negation examples:

find /usr/bin ! -executable -type f
find /var ! \( -name "*.log" -o -name "*.pid" \) -ls

Search Optimization

Depth control:

find /usr/local -maxdepth 2 -name "bin" -type d
find /var/spool -mindepth 3 -name "mail"

Efficient directory traversal:

find /proc -depth -name "cmdline" -exec cat {} \;

Advanced Pattern Matching

Complex regex patterns:

find /etc -regextype posix-extended -regex ".*[0-9]{3}\\.conf$"
find /usr/share -iregex ".*LICENSE.*" -type f

Permission bitmask examples:

find /srv -perm 2750 -ls
find /opt -perm /u=s,g=s -type f