[SOLVED] How to use the find command properly

zeelog · 10-21-2012, 10:04 AM

I can't figure out how to use the find command properly.
I'm not a great interpreter of the man manuals.
The best I could come up with to search the /usr directory
was:
find /usr games -print
I'm looking for games in the /usr directory.
As we all know, there is a directory /usr/games so find
should find something. But it does not. It reports:
find 'games': no such file or directory
So find is not working correctly.
I must be giving it the wrong kind of instructions.
How do I get find to work correctly ?
I need some examples.

suicidaleggroll · 10-21-2012, 10:07 AM

The first argument(s) to find are the directories in which to search. Everything else, including the name of the file/dir you're searching for, needs flags.

Code:

find /usr -name games

You can throw a "-type d" if you want to limit the results to just directories. "-print" is the default behavior, so you can leave it off. You can also add a "-maxdepth 1" if you want to disable recursive searching:

Code:

find /usr -maxdepth 1 -type d -name games

linux_BSD · 10-21-2012, 08:31 PM

If the find command finds any games directory the code below will list the files in the game directory.

Code:

find /usr -type d -iname games -exec ls {}  2> /dev/null \;

In case you run this code as a regular user you may get permission denied errors. The 2> /dev/null suppresses that from echoing on the screen.

shivaa · 10-21-2012, 11:16 PM

Following is generalized syntax of find:

Quote:

find <where-to-search> <what's criteria of search> <item name or criteria's value> <action>

Let's say if you want to search a "file" in /usr, then you can do:

Code:

find /usr -name "games" -tpye f -print

If games is a directory, then,

Code:

find /usr -name "games" -type d -print

Or to list out files in games in detailed manner:

Code:

find /usr -name "games" -type d -exec ls -la {} \;

And so on...
Once you'll used to find command, then I think you will need not to read full man page, but simply go through the available options (i.e. f for file, d for dir), search criterias (i.e. -type, -name, -perm, -mtime etc), action (i.e. -print, -exec etc.) and {} \; syntax.
Howp it will help you.

zeelog · 10-22-2012, 09:58 AM

Thank you for all your assistance. I also found
the linuxquestions tutorial on find. This is
all very good. I think this thread is solved.