In Unix-like and some other operating systems, find is a command-line utility that searches through one or more directory trees of a file system, locates files based on some user-specified criteria and applies a user-specified action on each matched file. The possible search criteria include a pattern to match against the file name or a time range to match against the modification time or access time of the file. By default, find returns a list of all files below the current working directory.
The related locate programs use a database of indexed files obtained through find (updated at regular intervals, typically by cron job) to provide a faster method of searching the entire filesystem for files by name.
Read more about Find: Find Syntax, POSIX Protection From Infinite Output
Famous quotes containing the word find:
“You have observed a skilful man reading Virgil. Well, that author is a thousand books to a thousand persons. Take the book into your two hands, and read your eyes out; you will never find what I find.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The things women find rewarding about work are, by and large ,the same things that men find rewarding and include both the inherent nature of the work and the social relationships.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
“Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan—spoiled.”
—Israel Zangwill (1864–1926)