Embedded Files
find command
find: searches a given part of the system directory tree for any file that matches some given criteria
Basic format: find start_dir criteria_list
start_dir is the directory from which find will start the search
start_dir can be an absolute path or a relative path
If it is a relative path, start_dir is relative to the directory where find is run
If no start_dir is given, find starts the search from the current directory
criteria_list tells search what to look for
The criteria_list can be 1 or more criteria
find does a recursive search from the start directory, which means it will go down all subdirectories of each directory that it encounters
When ls is used to search for a file, the search only occurs at the directory that is given as the argument to ls
When find is use to search for a file, the search starts at the directory given and proceeds down all subdirectories, so it is a deeper search
find is a powerful command that can do work (take action) on the files it found that match the criteria.
The action on the files can include removing the files, modifying the files, copying the files to another location, etc.
Printing the location of the matched files is the default action of find
When printing the location of the matched files, find prints the path of the matched files with respect to the start_dir
Criteria for find
Files matching filename
-name filename all files matching filename
-name ‘name_with_wildcards’ all filenames matching name_with_wildcards (single quotes are required)
Files of a certain file type
-type d all files that are directories
-type f all files that are regular files
-type l all files that are links (only symbolic link)
Files with a certain permission
-perm octal_mode all files with mode matching octal_mode (see File Permissions section for octal_mode)
Files that are empty
-empty applies to regular files and directories
Files with a certain number of hard links
-links +num all files with number of hard links greater than num
-links num all files with number of hard links equal num
-links –num all files with number of hard links less than num, num is a number
Hard links to a file
-inum inode_num all files with a certain inode_num, Recall: inode_num is found by using ls –i
Symbolic links pointing to a certain file
-lname path all links that contain a specific path
-lname ‘path_with_wildcards’ all links that contain paths that match the path_with_wildcards (single quotes are required)
Recall: when a symbolic link points to a file, it contains the path to that file. The –lname option looks at the path in the symbolic links for a match. If there is a match, it means the link points to that file.
find accepts one or more criteria
To use more than one criteria
AND
the file has to match all criteria listed
List the criteria separated by space
Example: find ~ -type d -empty
OR:
the file has to match at least 1 criterion in the list
List all criteria separated by -o (for or)
Example: find ~ -type d -o -type f
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