searching a file

Question

I want to find in the system a file, and I know part name of it. How could I do that? I tried unsuccessfully the command:

find / "*partname*"

The problem is probably very easy however I cannot find a decent tutorial on searching files in linux. Such one that explains searching in whole system files, in subfolders, recursively, for part of specific expression(s) or excluding. Please tell me what command solves my problem and if you know a good tutorial so that I can understand how to use various parameters for searching, post a link. Thank you so much.

https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=bash+find+tutorial&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 — Terrance, Apr 06 '16 at 19:25
This is a bit too broad to be answered, even generically. Please make a specific example and we'll be glad to help with that. — kos, Apr 06 '16 at 19:26

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 06 '16 at 19:31

3

It seems you forgot the -name keyword :

find / -name "*partname*"

answered Apr 06 '16 at 19:31

manu190466

131

2

Yes . . .for better results id use iname flag, since it's case insensitive – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Apr 07 '16 at 00:25

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 07 '16 at 00:23

1

Try with locate command. Open terminal and write:

locate <partname>

edited Apr 07 '16 at 00:23

Eric Carvalho

54,385

answered Apr 06 '16 at 19:26

NonStandardModel

3,450

1

If you want to use a locate command you the database of files has to be present. You can create or update the database with updatedb and then you can use locate. – nobody Apr 06 '16 at 19:37
1

Actually, it is: sudo updatedb. – chili555 Apr 06 '16 at 20:01

searching a file

2 Answers2