How to Find a File in Ubuntu Linux

Use the following commands in your terminal

• find / -iname filename or partial filename
  
• find / -iname *.conf
  
  
  
• This will find every instance conf no matter where it is.
• The / after find tells find to look in every directory below and including the root of the filesystem.
• The - in front of name tells Linux to not worry about caps.

You can use wildcards such as find / -iname wiki* to find, for example, "wikiHow.dat".

• There are many variables you can use with find.

Type "man find" or "info find" at a terminal prompt for more information then you care to know. Skip the " " when entering the commands.

Tips

• If the list of files is extensive, you can pipe the command to "less" so you can scroll back for forth.
  • find / -iname *.conf | less
• If you want to send the search results into a file to be read later
  • find / -iname *.conf > ~/myfile

The tilde ~ represents your home directory so if your user name is Joe you can find the filemyfile in /home/joe.

• The locate command will often find files much faster, but it's not always up to date.
  • locate important-paper
  • locate conf