How do I search every file on the hard drive?

RMSe17 · 02-09-2006, 01:55 PM

Hi!
I am trying to find a file on my hard drive that has the word tsunami in it. I think it should be very easy, but I am missing something... I tried going to root mount, and did this: ls -R | cat tsunami

but nothing happens... I know it will take couple seconds for you to answer

Thanks,
RMSe17

Dudydoo · 02-09-2006, 02:13 PM

try 'find / -name *tsunami* -print' as root

Bruce Hill · 02-09-2006, 02:14 PM

This command:
find / -iname '*tsunami*' 2>/dev/null
or
locate tsunami
which isn't quite as efficient, but quicker

Tinkster · 02-09-2006, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RMSe17

Hi!
I am trying to find a file on my hard drive that has the word tsunami in it. I think it should be very easy, but I am missing something... I tried going to root mount, and did this: ls -R | cat tsunami

but nothing happens... I know it will take couple seconds for you to answer :)

Thanks,
RMSe17

When you say "has the word tsunami in it", do you mean it has
the word tsunami in its name, or the file contains the word
tsunami?

If it's the latter try something like

Code:

find / \( -path /dev -prune -a -path /proc -prune \) -o -exec grep -li "tsunami" {} \;

Cheers,
Tink

RMSe17 · 02-09-2006, 02:33 PM

Oups, sorry, wasnt clear enough, I am looking to get the name(s) of file(s) that contain the word tsunami inside the file, in contents.

Thanks! Trying solution.

Electro · 02-09-2006, 04:02 PM

find / -type f -exec grep -Hin tsunami {} \; 2>/dev/null

It will give you the path to the file and what line number.

Bruce Hill · 02-09-2006, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electro

find / -type f -exec grep -Hin tsunami {} \; 2>/dev/null

It will give you the path to the file and what line number.

Really nice work there.