Goal: How to search for a file, by name, across a hierarchy of folders.
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Searching for Files:
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Let us look at a folder with many subfolders and files. |
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[]$ cd ~/intro_to_linux
[intro_to_linux]$ ls
clusters data fruits.txt software.csv vegatables.txt workshop_all.txt workshop_me.txt |
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The ls by default only lists the first level of folders and files. What does the -R option do? |
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[intro_to_linux]$ ls -R
.:
clusters data fruits.txt software.csv vegatables.txt workshop_all.txt workshop_me.txt
./clusters:
beartooth.html loren.html teton.html wildiris.html
./data:
2021 2022 2023 dd.tx
./data/2021:
Apr feb Nov README.txt Sep
./data/2021/Apr:
20210403.txt 20210427.txt 20210428.txt
./data/2021/feb:
february_01_2021.tx
./data/2021/Nov:
20211114.txt 20211115.txt 20211116.txt hello.txt |
Searching for Files: Recursive List Continued
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./data/2021/Sep:
20210908.txt 20210921.txt
./data/2022:
Dec February Hello.csv Jul Jun readme.txt
./data/2022/Dec:
20221207.txt 20221220.txt 20221230.txt 20221231.txt 2022_dec_01.txt
./data/2022/February:
20220203.txt 20220223.txt
./data/2022/Jul:
20220720.txt 20220722.txt 20220723.TX
./data/2022/Jun:
20220611.txt 20220615.txt 20220624.txt
./data/2023:
Feb Jan Mar ReadMe.txt
./data/2023/Feb:
20230204.txt 20230217.txt 20230223.txt 20230224.txt
./data/2023/Jan:
20230102.txt 20230108.txt 20230115.txt 20230121.txt texttx
./data/2023/Mar:
20230305.txt 20230311.txt 20230313.txt 20230326.txt 20230327.txt HELLO.txt
./data/dd.tx: |
| Info |
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Check the manual page: | Code Block |
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[]$ man ls
...
-R, --recursive
list subdirectories recursively
... |
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Searching for Files: find
Command | Description |
find | | Code Block |
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Usage: find [-H] [-L] [-P] [-Olevel] [-D help|tree|search|stat|rates|opt|exec] [path...] [expression]
default path is the current directory; default expression is -print
expression may consist of: operators, options, tests, and actions:
...
EXPRESSION
The part of the command line after the list of starting points is the expression. This is a
kind of query specification describing how we match files and what we do
...
TESTS
...
-name pattern
Base of file name (the path with the leading directories removed) matches shell pattern pattern.
...
-iname pattern
Like -name, but the match is case insensitive.
... |
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Examples
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Find the file named: 20230121.txt |
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[]$ cd ~/intro_to_linux/
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name 20230121.txt
./data/2023/Jan/20230121.txt
# Check that this file is within the returned location.
[intro_to_linux]$ ls data/2023/Jan/
20230102.txt 20230108.txt 20230115.txt 20230121.txt |
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Find the file named: 20230120.txt |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name 20230120.txt
[intro_to_linux]$ |
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The command completed since we got back to the prompt and no errors were displayed. No output means that this file could not be found. |
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Find is case-sensitive. Find the file with the exact filename README.txt |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name README.txt
./data/2021/README.txt |
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Use the alternative -iname option to search for a file name that is case-insensitive: |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -iname README.txt
./data/2021/README.txt
./data/2022/readme.txt
./data/2023/ReadMe.txt |
Examples
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Use wildcards to find all files with the postfix .csv: |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "*.csv"
./software.csv
./data/2022/Hello.csv |
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Find any files/folders that contain the string dec. Case-sensitive versus case-insensitive. |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "*dec*"
./data/2022/Dec/2022_dec_01.txt
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -iname "*dec*"
./data/2022/Dec
./data/2022/Dec/2022_dec_01.txt |
| Info |
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Find only folders using the type option and d for only directory. Question: Are we searching with respect to case-sensitive or insensitive? |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -type d -iname "*dec*"
./data/2022/Dec |
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Find only files using the f (for file) value for the type option. |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -type f -iname "*dec*"
./data/2022/Dec/2022_dec_01.txt |
Exercises
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Questions: What do we notice about some of the find command options? Find any files that contain the string “hello”, regardless of case, within their filename. Find any folders or files that contain the string “feb” regardless of case. Can you list only the folders?
Find any files that have the postfix “tx” – must be lowercase.
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Answers (1, 2)
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1. What do we notice about some of the find command options? |
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2. Find any files that contain the string “hello”, regardless of case, within their filename. |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "hello"
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "hello.*"
./data/2021/Nov/hello.txt
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -iname "hello.*"
./data/2021/Nov/hello.txt
./data/2022/Hello.csv
./data/2023/Mar/HELLO.txt |
Answers (3)
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3. Find any folders or files that contain the string “feb” regardless of case. |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name feb
./data/2021/feb
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -iname feb
./data/2021/feb
./data/2023/Feb
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -iname "*feb*"
./data/2021/feb
./data/2021/feb/february_01_2021.tx
./data/2022/February
./data/2023/Feb
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -type d -iname "*feb*"
./data/2021/feb
./data/2022/February
./data/2023/Feb |
Answers (4)
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4. Find any files that have the postfix “tx” – must be lowercase. |
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[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "tx"
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "*tx*"
./data/2021/README.txt
./data/2021/Nov/20211115.txt
./data/2021/Nov/hello.txt
./data/2021/Nov/20211114.txt
…
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "*tx"
./data/dd.tx
./data/2021/feb/february_01_2021.tx
./data/2023/Jan/texttx
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "*.tx"
./data/dd.tx
./data/2021/feb/february_01_2021.tx |
Answers (4)
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Notice: dd.tx is actually a folder, defined by the ’d’ in the long format list. |
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[intro_to_linux]$ ls -l data
total 4
drwxrwxr-x 6 <username> <username> 2021
drwxrwxr-x 6 <username> <username> 2022
drwxrwxr-x 5 <username> <username> 2023
drwxrwxr-x 2 <username> <username> dd.tx
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -type f -name "*.tx"
./data/2021/feb/february_01_2021.tx
# If we ignore case:
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -type f -iname "*.tx"
./data/2021/feb/february_01_2021.tx
./data/2022/20220723.TX |