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:
“It is a great shock at the age of five or six to find that in a world of Gary Coopers you are the Indian.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan—spoiled.”
—Israel Zangwill (1864–1926)
“For through the painter must you see his skill,
To find where your true image pictured lies,
Which in my bosom’s shop is hanging still,”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)