find Command: Tutorial & Examples

Search for files and directories

The find command is a Unix utility that searches a directory tree for files that match a certain set of criteria. It is a powerful tool that can be used to locate files based on their name, size, type, and other attributes.

To use the find command, you specify the directory where you want to start the search and the criteria for the files you want to find. For example, to find all the files in the current directory and its subdirectories that have the .txt extension, you can use the following command:

find . -name "*.txt"

This will search the current directory and all its subdirectories for files that have the .txt extension, and it will display the names of the files it finds.

You can also do more complicated things, for example, this command will calculate the md5sum of all files including subdirectories:

find -type f -exec md5sum '{}' \; > md5sum.txt

The find command has many options that allow you to customize its behavior, such as specifying the type of files you want to find (e.g., regular files, directories, symbolic links), specifying the size of the files you want to find, and specifying the time when the files were last modified. It is a powerful and versatile tool for locating files on a Unix system.