Difference between revisions 507860 and 507861 on knwiki

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The <code>'''find'''</code> program is a [[directory (file systems)|directory]] [[Search_engine_(computing)|search utility]] on [[Unix-like]] platforms. It searches through one or more directory [[tree (computing)|trees]] of a [[filesystem]], locating [[Computer file|file]]s based on some user-specified criteria. By default, <code>find</code> returns all files below the current [[working directory]]. Further, <code>find</code> allows the user to specify an action to be taken on each matched file. Thus, it is an extremely powerful program for applying actions to many files. It also supports [[Regular expression|regex]] matching.

The <code>'''[[GNU_locate|locate]]'''</code> programs use a database of indexed files obtained through <code>find</code> (updated at regular intervals, typically by <code>'''[[cron]]'''</code> job) to provide a faster method of searching the entire filesystem for files by name.  This sacrifices overall efficiency (because filesystems are regularly interrogated even when no users needs information)and absolute accuracy (since the database is not updated in real time) for significant speed improvements (particularly on very large filesystems).  On fast systems with small drives, <code>[[GNU_locate|locate]]</code> is not necessary or desirable.

== Find syntax ==
{{expand-section|date=August 2008}}

<code>'''find [-H] [-L] [-P] [path...] [expression]'''</code>

At least one path must precede the expression.  Find is capable of interpreting [[Wildcard_character|wildcards]] internally and commands must be constructed carefully in order to control [[Glob_(programming)|shell globbing]].
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