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Grep & Find Command Cheatsheet

Grep & Find Command Cheatsheet

Essential grep and find commands for searching

DevOps

Grep & Find Command Cheatsheet

A comprehensive reference for grep and find commands.

Grep Basics

grep "pattern" file                  # Search in file
grep "pattern" file1 file2           # Search in multiple files
grep "pattern" *.txt                 # Search in all .txt files
grep -r "pattern" directory          # Recursive search
grep -R "pattern" directory          # Recursive (follow symlinks)

Common Options

grep -i "pattern" file               # Case-insensitive
grep -v "pattern" file               # Invert match (exclude)
grep -n "pattern" file               # Show line numbers
grep -c "pattern" file               # Count matches
grep -l "pattern" *.txt              # List files with matches
grep -L "pattern" *.txt              # List files without matches
grep -w "word" file                  # Match whole word
grep -x "line" file                  # Match whole line
grep -A 3 "pattern" file             # Show 3 lines after
grep -B 3 "pattern" file             # Show 3 lines before
grep -C 3 "pattern" file             # Show 3 lines around

Regular Expressions

grep "^pattern" file                 # Start of line
grep "pattern$" file                 # End of line
grep "patt.rn" file                  # Any single character
grep "patt*rn" file                  # Zero or more
grep "patt.*rn" file                 # Any characters
grep "patt[ae]rn" file               # Character class
grep "patt[^ae]rn" file              # Negated class
grep -E "pattern1|pattern2" file     # OR (extended regex)
grep -P "\d+" file                   # Perl regex (digits)

Practical Examples

grep -r "TODO" .                     # Find all TODOs
grep -rn "function" --include="*.js" .  # Search in JS files
grep -v "^#" config.txt              # Exclude comments
grep -E "error|warning" log.txt      # Find errors or warnings
ps aux | grep nginx                  # Find process
history | grep ssh                   # Search command history

Find Basics

Find by Name

find /path -name "file.txt"          # Find by exact name
find /path -name "*.txt"             # Find by pattern
find /path -iname "*.TXT"            # Case-insensitive
find /path -not -name "*.txt"        # Exclude pattern
find /path -name "*.txt" -o -name "*.md"  # OR condition

Find by Type

find /path -type f                   # Files only
find /path -type d                   # Directories only
find /path -type l                   # Symbolic links
find /path -type f -empty            # Empty files
find /path -type d -empty            # Empty directories

Find by Size

find /path -size +100M               # Larger than 100MB
find /path -size -10k                # Smaller than 10KB
find /path -size 50M                 # Exactly 50MB
find /path -size +1G                 # Larger than 1GB

Find by Time

find /path -mtime -7                 # Modified in last 7 days
find /path -mtime +30                # Modified more than 30 days ago
find /path -atime -1                 # Accessed in last 24 hours
find /path -ctime +7                 # Changed more than 7 days ago
find /path -mmin -60                 # Modified in last 60 minutes
find /path -newer file.txt           # Newer than file.txt

Find by Permissions

find /path -perm 644                 # Exact permissions
find /path -perm -644                # At least these permissions
find /path -perm /u+w                # User writable
find /path -user john                # Owned by user
find /path -group developers         # Owned by group

Execute Commands

find /path -name "*.txt" -delete     # Delete files
find /path -name "*.log" -exec rm {} \;  # Delete with exec
find /path -name "*.txt" -exec cat {} \;  # Cat all files
find /path -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;  # Change permissions
find /path -name "*.bak" -ok rm {} \;  # Confirm before delete

Advanced Find

find /path -name "*.txt" -print0 | xargs -0 grep "pattern"  # Grep in found files
find /path -type f -printf "%p - %s bytes\n"  # Custom format
find /path -maxdepth 2 -name "*.txt"  # Limit depth
find /path -mindepth 2 -name "*.txt"  # Minimum depth
find /path -path "*/test/*" -prune -o -name "*.txt" -print  # Exclude directory

Combining Grep and Find

Search in Found Files

find /path -name "*.log" -exec grep "error" {} \;
find /path -name "*.txt" | xargs grep "pattern"
find /path -name "*.js" -exec grep -l "TODO" {} \;

Quick Reference

Grep

Command Description
grep "pattern" file Search in file
grep -r "pattern" dir Recursive search
grep -i "pattern" file Case-insensitive
grep -v "pattern" file Invert match
grep -n "pattern" file Line numbers
grep -c "pattern" file Count matches

Find

Command Description
find /path -name "*.txt" Find by name
find /path -type f Find files
find /path -size +100M Find by size
find /path -mtime -7 Modified last 7 days
find /path -exec cmd {} \; Execute command
find /path -delete Delete found files

Practical Examples

Find Large Files

find / -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \; 2>/dev/null

Find and Remove Old Logs

find /var/log -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

Find Files Modified Today

find /path -type f -mtime 0

Search for Text in All Files

grep -r "search term" /path

Find Duplicate Files

find /path -type f -exec md5sum {} \; | sort | uniq -w32 -dD

find /path -type l ! -exec test -e {} \; -print

Tips

  1. Use -print0 with xargs -0 for filenames with spaces
  2. Combine find and grep for powerful searches
  3. Use -maxdepth to limit search scope
  4. Test with -print before using -delete
  5. Use grep -r for simple recursive searches
  6. Learn regex for advanced patterns
  7. Use --include/--exclude with grep
  8. Redirect stderr with 2>/dev/null
  9. Use -exec vs xargs appropriately
  10. Bookmark common patterns

Resources

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