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Linux Find Command Cheatsheet

Core Syntax

find [starting_path] [options] [expression]

The command searches recursively from the starting path, evaluating each file against your expressions.

Learning Workflow

Phase 1: Foundation — Master basic searches by name and type
Phase 2: Filtering — Add time, size, and permission filters
Phase 3: Actions — Execute commands on results
Phase 4: Combining — Chain expressions with logical operators

Phase 1: Basic Searches

By Name

# Exact filename match
find /var/log -name "syslog"

# Case-insensitive match
find /home -iname "readme.txt"

# Wildcard patterns (quote to prevent shell expansion)
find /etc -name "*.conf"
find /opt -name "log*"

By Type

Flag Type
-type f Regular file
-type d Directory
-type l Symbolic link
-type s Socket
-type p Named pipe 
# Find all directories named "config"
find /etc -type d -name "config"

# Find all symlinks in /usr
find /usr -type l

Depth Control

# Search only current directory (no recursion)
find /var/log -maxdepth 1 -name "*.log"

# Start searching at depth 2
find /home -mindepth 2 -name "*.sh"

# Search between depths 1 and 3
find /opt -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 3 -type f

Phase 2: Filtering

By Time

Three time types, each with three variants:

Base Meaning
mtime Modification time (content changed)
atime Access time (last read)
ctime Change time (metadata/inode changed)
Suffix Unit
-mtime Days
-mmin Minutes 
# Modified in the last 24 hours
find /var/log -mtime -1

# Modified MORE than 30 days ago
find /tmp -mtime +30

# Modified exactly 7 days ago
find /home -mtime 7

# Accessed in the last 60 minutes
find /etc -amin -60

# Changed in the last 10 minutes (good for detecting recent activity)
find /etc -cmin -10

By Size

# Files larger than 100MB
find /var -size +100M

# Files smaller than 1KB
find /tmp -size -1k

# Files exactly 0 bytes (empty)
find /home -type f -size 0

# Size units: c (bytes), k (KB), M (MB), G (GB)
find / -size +1G 2>/dev/null

By Permissions

# Exact permission match
find /home -perm 644

# At least these permissions (all specified bits set)
find / -perm -644

# Any of these permissions (any specified bit set)
find / -perm /644

# World-writable files
find / -perm -002 -type f 2>/dev/null

# SUID bit set
find / -perm -4000 -type f 2>/dev/null

# SGID bit set
find / -perm -2000 -type f 2>/dev/null

By Ownership

# Files owned by user
find /home -user john

# Files owned by group
find /var -group www-data

# Files with no valid owner (orphaned)
find / -nouser 2>/dev/null

# Files with no valid group
find / -nogroup 2>/dev/null

Phase 3: Actions

Display and Output

# Default action (print path)
find /etc -name "*.conf" -print

# Print with null delimiter (safe for filenames with spaces)
find /home -name "*.txt" -print0 | xargs -0 ls -la

# Custom output format
find /var/log -name "*.log" -printf "%p %s bytes\n"
find /home -type f -printf "%u %p\n"  # owner and path

-printf Format Specifiers

Specifier Meaning
%p Full path
%f Filename only
%s Size in bytes
%u Owner username
%g Group name
%m Permissions (octal)
%T+ Modification time
%A+ Access time

Execute Commands

# Run command on each result ({} = placeholder)
find /tmp -name "*.tmp" -exec rm {} \;

# More efficient: batch multiple files per command
find /var/log -name "*.log" -exec ls -lh {} +

# Interactive prompt before each action
find /home -name "*.bak" -ok rm {} \;

# Delete directly (use with caution)
find /tmp -type f -mtime +7 -delete

Piping to Other Tools

# Handle filenames with spaces safely
find /home -name "*.sh" -print0 | xargs -0 chmod +x

# Count results
find /var/log -name "*.log" | wc -l

# Search within found files
find /etc -name "*.conf" -exec grep -l "password" {} +

Phase 4: Combining Expressions

Logical Operators

# AND (implicit, or explicit with -a)
find /var -name "*.log" -size +10M
find /var -name "*.log" -a -size +10M

# OR
find /home -name "*.jpg" -o -name "*.png"

# NOT
find /etc -type f ! -name "*.conf"
find /tmp ! -user root

# Grouping with parentheses (escape for shell)
find /var \( -name "*.log" -o -name "*.txt" \) -mtime -1

Practical Combinations

# Config files modified recently, excluding backups
find /etc -name "*.conf" -mmin -60 ! -name "*.bak"

# Large files that aren't logs
find /var -size +100M -type f ! -name "*.log"

# Files owned by user OR group
find /home \( -user john -o -group developers \) -type f

Troubleshooting Scenarios

Disk Space Investigation

# Top 20 largest files
find / -type f -exec du -h {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -rh | head -20

# Large files modified recently (possible runaway logs)
find /var -type f -size +500M -mtime -1

# Old files consuming space
find /tmp -type f -mtime +30 -exec du -sh {} + | sort -rh

Permission Issues

# Files not owned by expected user
find /var/www -type f ! -user www-data

# Directories missing execute permission
find /opt/app -type d ! -perm -111

# World-writable files (security check)
find /home -type f -perm -002 -ls

Recent Changes Investigation

# Files modified in last hour
find /etc -type f -mmin -60 -ls

# New files created today
find /var -type f -mtime 0 -ls

# Recently accessed executables
find /usr/bin -type f -amin -30

Broken Symlinks

# Find broken symbolic links
find /usr -xtype l

# Find and remove broken links
find /opt -xtype l -delete

Log File Management

# Compress old logs
find /var/log -name "*.log" -mtime +7 -exec gzip {} \;

# Remove rotated logs older than 30 days
find /var/log -name "*.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

# Find logs not modified in 24 hours (possible issues)
find /var/log -name "*.log" -mtime +1 -size 0

DFIR-Relevant Searches

# Recently modified executables (persistence check)
find /usr/bin /usr/sbin /usr/local/bin -type f -mtime -7 -ls

# Hidden files and directories
find /home -name ".*" -type f
find /tmp -name ".*" -type d

# SUID/SGID binaries (privilege escalation vectors)
find / -type f \( -perm -4000 -o -perm -2000 \) -ls 2>/dev/null

# Files modified around incident time
find / -type f -newermt "2024-01-15 08:00" ! -newermt "2024-01-15 12:00" 2>/dev/null

# Executables in temp directories
find /tmp /var/tmp /dev/shm -type f -executable 2>/dev/null

# Files with unusual extensions in web directories
find /var/www -type f \( -name "*.php5" -o -name "*.phtml" -o -name "*.asp" \)

# World-writable directories
find / -type d -perm -002 2>/dev/null

# Files owned by compromised account
find / -user compromised_user -type f -ls 2>/dev/null

Performance Tips

# Suppress permission errors
find / -name "target" 2>/dev/null

# Exclude mounted filesystems
find / -xdev -name "*.conf"

# Exclude specific directories
find / -path "/proc" -prune -o -name "*.log" -print
find / \( -path "/proc" -o -path "/sys" \) -prune -o -type f -print

# Use -quit to stop after first match
find /var -name "specific.conf" -quit

Quick Reference Card

Task Command
Find by name find /path -name "pattern"
Find by type find /path -type f/d/l
Modified < 24h find /path -mtime -1
Larger than 100M find /path -size +100M
Execute on results find /path ... -exec cmd {} \;
Delete matches find /path ... -delete
Combine OR find /path -name "*.a" -o -name "*.b"
Exclude pattern find /path ! -name "*.bak"
Suppress errors find /path ... 2>/dev/null