Goal: How to search for a file, by name, across a hierarchy of folders.
Searching for Files:
Let us look at a folder with many subfolders and files.
[]$ cd ~/intro_to_linux [intro_to_linux]$ ls clusters data fruits.txt software.csv vegatables.txt workshop_all.txt workshop_me.txt
The ls by default only lists the first level of folders and files.
What does the -R option do?
[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
./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:
Check the manual page:
[]$ man ls
...
-R, --recursive
list subdirectories recursively
...
Searching for Files: find
Command | Description |
find | 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.
...
|
Examples
Find the file named: 20230121.txt
[]$ 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
Find the file named: 20230120.txt
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name 20230120.txt [intro_to_linux]$
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.
The find command is case-sensitive. Find the file with the exact filename README.txt
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name README.txt ./data/2021/README.txt
Use the alternative -iname option to search for a file name that is case-insensitive:
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -iname README.txt ./data/2021/README.txt ./data/2022/readme.txt ./data/2023/ReadMe.txt
Examples
Use wildcards to find all files with the postfix .csv:
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -name "*.csv" ./software.csv ./data/2022/Hello.csv
Find any files/folders that contain the string dec. Case-sensitive versus case-insensitive.
[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
Find only folders using the type option and d for only directory.
Question: Are we searching with respect to case-sensitive or insensitive?
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -type d -iname "*dec*" ./data/2022/Dec
Find only files using the f (for file) value for the type option.
[intro_to_linux]$ find . -type f -iname "*dec*" ./data/2022/Dec/2022_dec_01.txt
Exercises: Find Files
Questions:
What do we notice about some of the
findcommand 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.
Answers (1, 2)
1. What do we notice about some of the find command options?
That some of the single dash options (
-name) are similar to long-names and not single letters.
2. Find any files that contain the string “hello”, regardless of case, within their filename.
[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)
3. Find any folders or files that contain the string “feb” regardless of case.
Can you list only the folders?
[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)
4. Find any files that have the postfix “tx” – must be lowercase.
[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)
Notice: dd.tx is actually a folder, defined by the ’d’ in the long format list.
[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
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