Tools

find Cheat Sheet

Print-ready cheat sheet for find, organized for fast lookup, study, and desk-side use

Source: GNU Findutils (gnu.org/software/findutils)
License: MIT
Variants: 3 download options
Updated: 2026-03-27

Sample

What's in this cheat sheet

Running find

find .                              # list all files recursively
find /var/log                       # search from specific path
find . -name "*.txt"               # find by name
find / -name "config" 2>/dev/null  # suppress permission errors
find dir1 dir2 -name "*.py"        # search multiple directories

Syntax Overview

`find [path...] [tests] [actions]`	General form — paths, then tests, then actions
`path`	Starting directory (default: current directory)
`test`	Condition to filter files (`-name`, `-type`, etc.)
`action`	What to do with matches (`-print`, `-exec`, etc.)
`Default action`	`-print` if no action is specified

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