Bash find Command - Search for Files

Using the find Command

The find command searches a folder, and all folders inside it, for files and directories that match what you ask for.

You can search by name, type, size or age, and you can even run a command on every match.

All examples below use this folder:

project/
  index.html
  style.css
  notes.txt
  README.TXT
  logs/
    app.log
  scripts/
    build.sh
    test.sh

Find Files by Name

Use -name followed by a pattern. The * wildcard matches any characters.

The first argument (.) tells find to start in the current folder:

find . -name "*.txt"
./notes.txt

Put the pattern in quotes. Without quotes, Bash may expand the * itself before find sees it.

Ignore Upper and Lower Case

The -name option is case-sensitive, so README.TXT was not found above.

Use -iname to ignore case:

find . -iname "*.txt"
./README.TXT
./notes.txt

Find by Type

Use -type f to find only files, and -type d to find only directories:

find . -type d
.
./scripts
./logs

You can combine tests. This finds files whose name ends with .sh:

find . -type f -name "*.sh"
./scripts/test.sh
./scripts/build.sh

Limit the Search Depth

By default, find looks inside every sub-folder. Use -maxdepth to limit how deep it goes.

-maxdepth 1 means "only the starting folder":

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f
./README.TXT
./notes.txt
./style.css
./index.html

Find by Size and Age

Use -size to find files bigger (+) or smaller (-) than a size. k means kilobytes, M megabytes:

find . -type f -size +10M

Use -mtime to find files by when they were last changed, in days. -7 means "less than 7 days ago":

find . -type f -mtime -7

Run a Command on Each File

Use -exec to run a command on every file that is found. The {} is replaced by the file name, and \; ends the command:

find . -name "*.sh" -exec wc -l {} \;
1 ./scripts/test.sh
1 ./scripts/build.sh

Use -delete to delete every file that is found:

find . -name "*.log" -delete

Be careful: -delete removes files without asking. Run the same command without -delete first, to see which files will be removed.

Options Overview

• -name: Match the file name (case-sensitive)
• -iname: Match the file name (ignore case)
• -type f / -type d: Only files / only directories
• -maxdepth: How many folder levels to search
• -size: Match by file size
• -mtime: Match by days since the file was last changed
• -exec: Run a command on each match
• -delete: Delete each match