Searching for Files in Linux (or Windows)

Anyone with Windows experience who is new to UNIX/Linux/CygWin pretty quickly figures out that the LS command in UNIX is the equivalent of the DIR command in Windows. At least, it is equivalent up to a point. Issuing the DIR command in Windows (with no arguments) will display the contents of the current folder. Issuing the LS command in UNIX with no arguments will do the same. After that, however, the similarities end. Say, for example, you’re searching for a file called “debug.log” that you know to be in a subfolder, or sub-subfolder, of the current directory. In Windows, the command “DIR /S debug.log” will do the job nicely. The “/S” switch tells the DIR command to recurse through every subdirectory, while the “debug.log” argument tells the DIR command what file(s) to look for.

In UNIX, however, the tool for that job is the FIND command, not the LS command. Specifically, in this case, it would be “find . -name debug.log”. The first argument after the word find — the lone period — tells the FIND command where to start looking. (As with Windows, a single period means the current directory.) The “-name” switch, together with its argument of “debug.log”, establishes a criterion for the name of the files to be found. There are dozens of other criteria available, which can be used separately or in combination. These criteria, or “tests”, include being able to test on the age of the file, the type of file, the size of the file, and attribute flags of the file. Other options available with the FIND command include actions that can be taken against the found files, such as deleting the file(s) found, or executing an arbitrary command and passing it the name of each file found.

Tip #1: Use “MAN FIND” to read all about the find command. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see a number of examples.

Tip #2: If you have trouble coming up with a combination of criteria to do what you expect, then take advantage of the -D switch to turn on one or more of the debug options. This gets the FIND command to “show its work” so you can see what it’s thinking, and how it’s interpreting the switches.

Tip #3: As you can see, the UNIX FIND command is significantly more powerful than the Windows DIR command. CygWin, the Linux emulator for Windows, allows the FIND command to be used in Windows — to search Windows drives. (See our previous articles for how to get started with CygWin.)

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