Linux find Cheatsheet

This cheatsheet provides a comprehensive and practical reference for the Linux find command. It covers searching by name, type, size, time, permissions, actions, advanced usage, and command combos. Use it to boost your productivity in file management and automation.

Use the search bar to quickly find specific find commands or browse through categories for a complete reference. Explore the Command Combos section for powerful multi-step workflows.

Basic Usage

find .

List all files and directories recursively from current directory

find /path -name 'file.txt'

Find file by name in a specific path

find /path -iname 'file.txt'

Case-insensitive name search

find /path -type f

Find all files

find /path -type d

Find all directories

find /path -maxdepth 1

Limit search depth to 1

find /path -mindepth 2

Start searching from depth 2

By Name & Pattern

find . -name '*.log'

Find all .log files

find . -iname '*.jpg'

Find all .jpg files (case-insensitive)

find . -not -name '*.txt'

Find files not ending with .txt

find . -regex '.*\.sh'

Find files matching regex pattern

By Size, Time & Permissions

find . -size +100M

Find files larger than 100MB

find . -size -10k

Find files smaller than 10KB

find . -empty

Find empty files and directories

find . -mtime -1

Find files modified in the last 1 day

find . -atime +7

Find files accessed more than 7 days ago

find . -perm 644

Find files with permission 644

find . -user username

Find files owned by a specific user

find . -group groupname

Find files owned by a specific group

Actions

find . -type f -delete

Delete all files found

find . -type f -exec rm {} +

Delete files using exec

find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} +

Change permissions for found files

find . -type f -exec grep 'pattern' {} +

Search for pattern in found files

find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep 'pattern'

Search pattern in files using xargs (handles spaces)

find . -type f -exec cp {} /tmp/ ;

Copy found files to /tmp/

Advanced & Special

find . -links +1

Find files with more than one hard link

find . -newer file.txt

Find files modified more recently than file.txt

find . -samefile file.txt

Find hard links to file.txt

find . -execdir ls -l {} +

Run command in the directory where the file is found

find . -type l

Find all symbolic links

find . -fstype ext4

Find files on ext4 filesystem

Command Combos

find . -type f -name '*.log' -delete

Find and delete all .log files recursively

find /var/log -type f -mtime +30 -exec rm {} +

Delete log files older than 30 days

find . -type f -exec du -h {} + | sort -hr | head -10

Show top 10 largest files found

find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep 'TODO'

Find all files containing 'TODO'

find . -type f -exec md5sum {} + > files.md5

Generate MD5 checksums for all files

Features

Quick search functionality
Organized by categories
Clear command descriptions
Common and advanced use cases covered
Easy to copy commands
Responsive design
Perfect for quick reference