find -name & -type

Find files anywhere

Lesson 12 of 20 · 8 min · Module 4: Find and organize

When you do not know where a file is, find searches a whole folder tree for you.

Free. No installation: you write and run the code in your browser, and it is checked automatically.

By the end, you’ll be able to…

Search a folder tree by name
Filter results by type
Quote wildcard patterns

The idea

find folder -name "pattern" searches folder and everything below it. Patterns use wildcards: "*.log" means any name ending in .log. Quote the pattern so the shell passes it to find unchanged. -type f keeps files and -type d keeps folders.

find . -name "*.txt"
find projects -type d

01find walks the whole tree

find . means "start here and look in every folder below". Results are printed as paths relative to where the search started.

find . -name "*.log"

Output

./logs/access.log
./logs/app.log
./logs/old/2026-09.log

02Why the quotes matter

Without quotes, the shell may expand *.log itself using files in the current folder before find ever sees the pattern. Quotes hand the pattern to find untouched.

03Combine tests

find projects -type f -name "*.html" keeps only files whose names end in .html. Every test you add narrows the result.

Your turn

Find every file ending in .log anywhere under your home folder. Then list every folder inside projects, including projects itself.

What the checks look for

Finds all three .log files, including the archived one
Lists the folders inside projects

Try it in the editor →

Take this with you

find answers "where is it?" across a whole tree of folders.

Go a little further

Use -iname instead of -name to match names regardless of upper or lower case.