To find a file in the Linux terminal, you need to use the powerful find command. This command requires you to specify where to search and what file to search for. You can search for files by name, type, group, owner, date, permissions, and many other criteria.
How to Find a File in the Linux Terminal
You can search for a file in any directory from any directory. When you open the Linux terminal, you will usually begin from your home directory. When you are searching from the root directory (/), you will need to prefix the find command with sudo in order to have the necessary root privileges.
Find a File by its Name
For instance, you can use the following command to recursively find all files named exactly filename1 starting from the root directory.
sudo find / -name filename1
Note: Linux file names are very particular about case. You can use the -name flag for a case-sensitive search, or the -iname flag for a case-insensitive search.
Find a File by its Type and Extension
If you want to find a specific file by its full name and extension, such as filename1.pdf, you can use the find command as follows:
sudo find / -name filename1.pdf
Alternatively, if you want to list all files of a specific type (e.g., all PDF files), you can use the -type f flag (to specify you are looking for files, not directories) along with a wildcard character:
sudo find / -type f -name "*.pdf"
