Bash 5 reference · Text and System Tools

find (Linux command)

Find files and directories by name, type, size, age or permissions, and act on them with -exec, -delete or xargs.

Bash 5

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Syntax

find PATH [TESTS] [ACTIONS]

Parameter	Description
`-name '*.log'`	Match names (quote the pattern).
`-type f\|d`	Files or directories.
`-mtime -7 / +30`	Modified within / older than days.
`-size +10M`	Larger than 10 MB.
`-exec CMD {} +`	Run a command on the results.
`-print0`	NUL-separated output for xargs -0.

By name and type

mkdir -p a/b; touch a/x.log a/b/y.log a/z.txt
find a -name '*.log' | sort
find a -type d | sort

Output

a/b/y.log
a/x.log
a
a/b

Run this on your computer — see “Get Started” for setup.

Delete files older than 7 days

touch -d 2026-01-01 old.tmp; touch new.tmp
find . -name '*.tmp' -mtime +7 -print -delete
ls *.tmp

Output

./old.tmp
new.tmp

Run this on your computer — see “Get Started” for setup.

xargs · Build and run commands from input lines, in batches or in parallel; pair with find -print0 and xargs -0 for safe file names.
Bash find and xargs · tutorial