BCH709 Introduction to Bioinformatics: Find Command

Find Command

The find command searches for files based on name, size, time, and more.

Setup: Create Test Files

cd ~/permission_practice
mkdir -p find_test/{dir1,dir2}
touch find_test/file1.txt find_test/file2.txt find_test/script.sh
touch find_test/dir1/data.csv find_test/dir2/notes.txt
echo "sample content" > find_test/file1.txt

Step 1: Find by Name

# Find all .txt files
find find_test -name "*.txt"

find_test/file1.txt
find_test/file2.txt
find_test/dir2/notes.txt

# Case-insensitive search
find find_test -iname "*.TXT"

Step 2: Find by Type

# Find only files
find find_test -type f

find_test/file1.txt
find_test/file2.txt
find_test/script.sh
find_test/dir1/data.csv
find_test/dir2/notes.txt

# Find only directories
find find_test -type d

find_test
find_test/dir1
find_test/dir2

Step 3: Find with Actions

# Make all .sh files executable
find find_test -name "*.sh" -exec chmod +x {} \;
ls -l find_test/script.sh

-rwxr-xr-x 1 user group 0 Jan 20 10:00 find_test/script.sh

# Delete all .txt files (careful!)
# Use -print first to preview
find find_test -name "*.txt" -print

Quick Reference