Locate files precisely and act on them from the shell, fast and reliably. 16.11.2025 | reading time: 2 min Lost files slow work; the `find` command lets the user express exactly what to look for and where, then act on each match from the command line. Why find matters On a busy system with deep directory trees, remembering every path is impossible; `find` turns criteria into queries so the shell does the hunting, not memory. Walkthrough: find in action Two hands-on examples show how to search and act: one filters recent log files, the other finds big files and lists them using an exec action.```\n$ find /var/log -name '*.log' -mtime -7 -type f -print\n/var/log/syslog\n/var/log/apache2/access.log\n/var/log/auth.log\n\n$ find /home -type f -size +10M -exec ls -lh {} \;\n-rw-r--r-- 1 john users 120M Jun 1 12:34 /home/john/videos/movie.mp4\n-rw-r--r-- 1 john users 45M May 30 09:10 /home/john/backup/archive.tar.gz\n``` Options that change the game Use `-name` or `-iname` for patterns, `-type` to restrict to files or directories, `-mtime` and `-size` for time and space, `-perm`/`-user`/`-group` for permissions and ownership, `-maxdepth`/`-mindepth` to limit recursion, `-prune` to skip paths and `-exec` or `-print0` with `xargs -0` to perform safe actions on results; combine predicates with `-and`, `-or` and parentheses for precision. Other tools to combine Combine `find` with `xargs` to parallelize work, pipe results into `grep` for content filtering, use `rsync` or `tar` to archive matches, or try the `locate` database for instant name-only lookups when freshness is not required. Final note Mastering `find` multiplies productivity on any Linux system; keep practicing with real repositories and consider formal certification like CompTIA Linux+ or LPIC-1 for career proof, with bitsandbytes.academy offering intensive exam preparation. Join Bits & Bytes Academy First class LINUX exam preparation. filesystem utilities scripting troubleshooting
