Linux Find & Locate Guía rápida

Search for files and directories with find and locate commands.

What this cheat sheet is for

This linux find & locate reference helps you complete common developer tasks quickly and avoid repeated trial-and-error when working under deadlines.

When you need a reliable command or pattern during debugging and incident response.
When you are implementing a feature and want a known-good syntax example immediately.
When onboarding teammates and documenting repeatable workflows for daily use.
When reviewing pull requests and verifying that command usage follows best practices.

Find files by name.

find /path -name "filename"
find /path -iname "filename"
find /path -type d -name "dirname"
find /path -type f -name "*.txt"
find . -name "*.log"

Search by file size.

find /path -size +100M
find /path -size -10k
find /path -size 50M

Search by modification time.

find /path -mtime -7
find /path -atime -7
find /path -ctime +30
find /path -mmin -60

Perform actions on results.

find /path -name "*.tmp" -delete
find /path -name "*.txt" -exec cat {} \;
find /path -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Search by file permissions.

find /path -perm 755
find /path -perm -644
find /path -perm /222

Find empty files or directories.

find /path -empty
find /path -type f -empty
find /path -type d -empty

Fast file search using database.

locate filename
locate -i filename
locate -c filename
sudo updatedb

Find command location in PATH.

which python
which -a python

Locate binary, source, manual.

whereis ls
whereis -b python
whereis -m gcc

People often copy a command or pattern without adapting placeholders, which can break production workflows unexpectedly.
It is easy to forget environment-specific differences, so always verify behavior in your shell, runtime, or API gateway before shipping.
Many errors come from skipping small validation steps, so test with realistic sample input before relying on the result.

Last updated: February 2026