Master the “find” command in Linux: A practical cheatsheet

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The find command is one of the most powerful tools in a developer’s or sysadmin’s arsenal, but many of us barely scratch the surface of what it can do. It’s not just for searching; it’s for analysis and automation.

This guide is a comprehensive, visual cheatsheet to help you master it, broken down into three parts: finding files, searching by metadata, and taking action on your results.

Part 1: Finding Files by Name & Type

Let’s start with the basics. Here are the most common ways to find files and directories by their name or extension.

Copy-paste version:

Find files by name (case-sensitive): 

find /path/to/search -type f -name "myfile.txt"

Find files by name (case-insensitive): 

find /path/to/search -type f -iname "myfile.txt"

Find all directories named ‘logs’: 

find / -type d -name "logs"

Find files by extension (e.g., all .conf files): 

find /etc -type f -name "*.conf"

Part 2: Finding by Time & Size

Now for a more advanced use case: searching by metadata. This is incredibly useful for finding old logs, large downloads, or just analyzing disk space.

Copy-paste version:

Find files modified in the last 24 hours: 

find /var/log -type f -mtime -1

Find files modified MORE than 7 days ago: 

find /home/user/Downloads -type f -mtime +7

Find files larger than 100MB: 

find / -type f -size +100M

Find empty files or directories: 

find /path/to/search -empty

Part 3: Taking Action (-exec, -delete)

This is where the find command becomes a superpower. So far, we’ve only searched for files. Now, let’s learn how to perform actions on them.

Copy-paste version:

Execute a command on each found file (e.g., change permissions): 

find /path/to/app -type f -name "*.sh" -exec chmod +x {} ;

Periodically delete old backup files (older than 3 days):
WARNING: The -delete action is final. Use with caution! 

find /var/backups -name "*.zip" -type f -mtime +3 -delete

Find all cache files and ask for confirmation before deleting (y/n): 

find / -type f -name "*.cache" -ok rm {} ;

Downloadable version:

Source & downloads:

You can find the original PNG version of this cheatsheet in the original post:

How to use the find command in Linux

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