Difference between revisions 507887 and 507888 on knwiki

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{{lowercase|title=find}} 
The <code>'''find'''</code> program is a [[directory (file systems)|directory]] [[Search engine (computing)|search utility]] on [[Unix-like]] platforms. It searchesIn [[Unix-like]] and some other [[operating system]]s, <code>'''find'''</code> is a [[command-line utility]] that [[Search engine (computing)|searches]] through one or more [[directory [[tree (computing)|trees]]s of a [[file  system]], locatinges [[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</co (computing)|user]]-specified criteria and applies a user-specified action on each matched file. The possible search criteria include> 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 [[pattern matching|pattern]] to match against the [[file name]] or a time range to match against the modification time or access time of the file. By default, <code>find</code> returns a list of all files below the current [[working directory]].

The related, <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>locate</code> is not necessary or desirable.

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

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

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