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:
“‘O fy gar ride, and fy gar rin,
And haste ye find these traitors again;
For she’s be burnt and he’s be slain,
The wearifu’ gaberlunzie man.’”
—Unknown. The Gaberlunzie Man (l. 49–52)
“If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“I often sit back and think, “I wish I’d done that,” and find out later that I already have.”
—Richard Harris (b. 1932)