Finding files

After learning about common file operations and archiving, there is one vital skill in file manipulation we have not yet covered: finding files. It's very neat that you know how to copy or archive files, but if you cannot find the file you want to manipulate, you're going to have a hard time completing your task. Fortunately, there are tools devoted to finding and locating files on a Linux filesystem. And, to keep things simple, these are called find and locate. The find command is more complex, but more powerful, while the locate command is easier to use when you know exactly what you're looking for. First, we'll show you how to use locate, before moving on to the more extensive capabilities of find.