• No test condition specified. Will list all files found. Useful for generating a list of all files with path information.

  find $HOME
  

• -name name - search for file named. Wild-cards may be used but need to be quoted.

  find . -name "*.c"
  Lists all files with .c extension. Path from current directory.

  Probably the most common search condition used.

  Note quotes required when using filename wild-card to avoid premature expansion.

• -inum n - search for all file-names linked to specified inode number.

• -iname file-name - search for all file-names linked to same inode as the specified file-name.

• -links [+/-]n - search for all file-names with a link count more than n (+n), less than n (-n), or equal to n.

• -uid n
• -user user-name
  - search for all files belonging to specified user. Use uid # or name.

• -gid n
• -group group-name
  - search for all files belonging to specified group. Use gid # or name.

• -nouser
• -nogroup
  - Looks for files that have an invalid uid or gid.

• -size [+/-]n[bcwkMG] - search for file less than (-n), greater than (+n), or equal to n.

  [bcwkMG] - scalar multipliers.

  c - character
  b - 512-byte block
  w - two-byte word
  k - kilobyte (1024 bytes)
  M - Megabyte (1048576 bytes)
  G - Gigabytes (2^30 bytes)
  

• -type {bcdprls} - search by file-type.
  b - block special
  c - character special
  d - directory
  f - regular - -L and -follow options may change match somewhat.
  p - named pipe
  l - symbolic link
  s - socket
  

• time based tests
  • -atime [+/-]n - last time file accessed, scale days.
  • -amin [+/-]n - last time file accessed, scale minutes.
  • -ctime [+/-]n - last time status(inode) modified, scale days.
  • -cmin [+/-]n - last time status(inode) modified, scale minutes.
  • -mtime [+/-]n - last time file modified, scale days.
  • -mmin [+/-]n - last time file modified, scale minutes.
    
  • -anewer file-name - find files more recently than named file.
  • -cnewer file-name - find files with status change newer than named file.
  • -newer file-name - find files newer than named file. # Use ! to create a "older" search.

• -perm mod-values - find files based on various permissions. Does an exact match if just mod-values listed.
  If octal used, need to list all 4 octal values {sST}{rwx}{rwx}{rwx}

  find . -perm 0753 # (not suid,guid or sticky), u=rwx, g=rx, o=x

  find . -perm u=x,g=w # lists files where only executable for user and writable for group. All other permissions off.

  For broader scope, prefix with minus.

  find . -perm -0753 # match as long as user has all permissions, group has at least readable and executable permission and other has at least executable permissions.

  find . -perm -g=w # lists files that at least have group = write.

  To do a type of or where at least one of the user types is on, use forward slash.

  find . -perm /ugo+w # lists files where write is on for any of the user types, user(owner), group, other. Just one or all or any combination.

  find . -perm -444 -perm /222 ! -perm /111

  find . -perm -a+r -perm /a+w ! -perm /a+x # finds files in which every one has read, at least one user-type has write, and nobody has executable (note the ! - NOT )

find . \! -name "backups" -a \! -name "evals" -print

find . \! \( -name backups -o -name evals \) -print

These 2 are the same.

These will print every files except files named backups or evals. This is not the same as -prune which will be covered under actions.

Because both ! and () are shell expressions, backslash is required to pass them unprocessed to the find command.

There are several other test conditions. See man find The man page on find is one of the better man pages on the system. It includes a whole section of examples.

find actions