Files & Search

Overview

Finding files and manipulating the filesystem are daily tasks. These tools help you search, navigate, and manage files efficiently.

In This Section

Topic Description

Search Mastery

find, grep, fd, ripgrep, locate - comprehensive searching across files and content.

File Operations

ls, cp, mv, rm, chmod, chown, and advanced file manipulation.

Search Tool Comparison

Tool Purpose Speed

find

POSIX, everywhere, powerful expressions

Moderate

fd

Modern find alternative, sane defaults

Fast

grep

Search file contents

Moderate

rg (ripgrep)

Fast grep alternative, respects .gitignore

Very fast

locate

Database search (mlocate)

Instant

Quick Patterns

Find Files

# By name
find /var/log -name "*.log" -mtime -1

# By content
grep -r "error" /var/log/
rg "error" /var/log/

# Modern alternative
fd -e log . /var/log

File Operations

# Safe copy with progress
rsync -avh --progress src/ dest/

# Find and delete
find /tmp -type f -mtime +7 -delete

# Recursive permissions
chmod -R 750 /srv/app
chown -R app:app /srv/app

Learning Path

  1. Start with File Operations for basic manipulation

  2. Master Search to find anything quickly