This is a command line tutorial primarily conducted in in the OS X command line. Because of OSX’s unix heritage, much of the info here is also useful in other unix inspired systems, like the Linux command line.

1. Search For Text In Files Mac Command Line Linux
2. Search For Text In Files
3. Mac Command Line Find File
4. Find Text In Files
5. Search Text On Mac

1. Use it on the Command Line Use the filename as the argument to subl. If there are spaces in the filename path, make sure that you surround the entire path with double quotes or escape the spaces.
2. A command line prompt is a way of interacting with your computer without a graphical interface. While your modern Mac uses a graphical user interface, (GUI) older computers used only command prompts. The command line usually gives you more options than the GUI.

Despite the popularity of window managers that offer graphical user interfaces, the best way to search for files in Linux still requires a shell. The find command, with its myriad options and switches, offers the most powerful and precise features to surface what you're looking for.

All modern Linux distributions support find from the shell. Access the shell (sometimes called the terminal window) by clicking the relevant icon or pressing Ctrl+Alt+T.

The 'find' Command

The command used to search for files is called find.

The basic syntax of the find command is:

The currently active path marks the search location, by default. To start searching the whole drive you would type the following:

Search For Text In Files Mac Command Line Linux

If, however, you want to start searching for the folder you are currently in then you can use the following syntax:

When you search by name across the whole drive, use the following syntax:

• The first part of the find command is the find command itself.
• The second part is where to start searching from.
• The next part is an expression which determines what to find.
• Finally the last part is the name of the thing to find.

Search Location Shortcuts

The first argument after find is the location you wish to search. Although you may specify a specific directory, most people use a metacharacter to serve as a substitute. The three metacharacters that work with this command include:

• Period: specifies the current and all nested folders
• Forward Slash: specifies the entire filesystem
• Tilde: specifies the active user's home directory

Searching the entire filesystem is likely to generate a lot of access-denied errors. Run the command with elevated privileges (e.g., by using sudo), if you need to search in places your standard account normally cannot access.

Expressions

The most common expression you will use is -name. The -name expression lets you search for the name of a file or folder.

There are, however, other expressions you can use:

Search For Text In Files

• -amin n: The file was last accessed n minutes ago
• -anewer: The file was last accessed more recently than it was modified
• -atime n: The file was last accessed more n days ago
• -cmin n: The file was last changed n minutes ago
• -cnewer: The file was last changed more recently than the file was modified
• -ctime n: The file was last changed more than n days ago
• -empty: The file is empty
• -executable: The file is executable
• -false: Always false
• -fstype type: The file is on the specified file system
• -gid n: The file belongs to group with the ID n
• -group groupname: The file belongs to the named group
• -ilname pattern: Search for a symbolic line but ignore case
• -iname pattern: Search for a file but ignore case
• -inum n: Search for a file with the specified node
• -ipath path: Search for a path but ignore case
• -iregex expression: Search for a expression but ignore case
• -links n: Search for a file with the specified number of links
• -lname name: Search for a symbolic link
• -mmin n: File's data was last modified n minutes ago

• -mtime n: File's data was last modified n days ago
• -name name: Search for a file with the specified name
• -newer name: Search for a file edited more recently than the file given
• -nogroup: Search for a file with no group id
• -nouser: Search for a file with no user attached to it
• -path path: Search for a path
• -readable: Find files which are readable
• -regex pattern: Search for files matching a regular expression
• -type type: Search for a particular type
• -uid uid: Files numeric user id is the same as uid
• -user name: File is owned by user specified
• -writable: Search for files that can be written to

Example Usage of the Find Command

To find all the files within your home folder accessed more than 100 days ago:

To find all the empty files and folders in your system:

Mac Command Line Find File

To find all of the executable files on your computer:

Find Text In Files

To find all of the files that are readable:

Patterns

When you search for a file you can use a pattern. For example, search for all files with the extension mp3:

How to Send Output from the Find Command to a File

The main problem with the find command is that it can sometimes return too many results to look at in one go. Pipe the output to the tail command or you can output the lines to a file as follows:

How to Find and Execute a Command Against a File

Search Text On Mac

To search for and edit a file at the same time:

The above command searches for a file called filename and then runs the nano editor for the file that it finds.