find by name, type, and size in Linux CLI - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Find files named 'report.txt' of type regular file

What is the output of this command if the current directory contains exactly one regular file named 'report.txt' and no other files with that name?

find . -name 'report.txt' -type f

Linux CLI

find . -name 'report.txt' -type f

A ./report.txt

B

./report.txt/
./report.txt

C report.txt

D No output

💡 Hint

The command finds regular files named exactly 'report.txt' in the current directory and subdirectories.

The find command prints the relative path starting with './' for files found. Since there is one regular file named 'report.txt' in the current directory, it outputs './report.txt'.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Find directories named 'backup' larger than 1MB

What will this command output if there is one directory named 'backup' with size 2MB and one file named 'backup' with size 3MB?

find . -name 'backup' -type d -size +1M

Linux CLI

find . -name 'backup' -type d -size +1M

A ./backup/file.txt

B

./backup
./backup/file.txt

C No output

D ./backup

💡 Hint

The command looks for directories named 'backup' larger than 1MB, not files.

The command finds directories (-type d) named 'backup' with size greater than 1MB. Only the directory matches, so it outputs './backup'.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Correct find command to locate regular files named '*.log' smaller than 500KB

Which option is the correct find command to locate regular files with names ending in '.log' and size less than 500KB?

A find . -name '*.log' -type f -size -500k

B find . -name '*.log' -type f -size +500k

C find . -type f -name '*.log' -size -500k

D find . -name '*.log' -type d -size -500k

💡 Hint

Order of options does not matter, but size sign and type must be correct.

Option C correctly finds regular files (-type f) named '*.log' with size less than 500KB (-size -500k). Option C uses lowercase 'k' which is valid but order is less conventional. Option C uses +500k which means larger than 500KB. Option C searches directories (-type d) which is incorrect.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this find command fail to find files larger than 1MB?

Given this command:

find /data -type f -name '*.csv' -size +1M

It returns no results even though there are CSV files larger than 1MB. What is the most likely reason?

Linux CLI

find /data -type f -name '*.csv' -size +1M

A The size option counts 512-byte blocks, so '+1M' means files larger than 1*512 bytes

B The '+1M' means files larger than 1MB, so it should be '-1M' to find larger files

C The size unit 'M' is case sensitive and should be lowercase 'm'

D The command is correct; the files are probably smaller than 1MB

💡 Hint

Check how the find command interprets size units by default.

By default, find's '-size' option counts in 512-byte blocks unless a unit is specified. 'M' means mebibytes (1,048,576 bytes). If the system does not support 'M' or the version is old, it may interpret '+1M' as '+1 * 512 bytes' which is very small. This causes unexpected results.

🚀 Application

expert

Find all empty directories named 'temp' and delete them safely

Which command will find all empty directories named 'temp' under /var/log and delete them safely, prompting before each deletion?

A find /var/log -type d -name 'temp' -empty -delete

B find /var/log -type d -name 'temp' -empty -exec rm -ri {} +

C find /var/log -type d -name 'temp' -empty -exec rm -r {} \;

D find /var/log -type d -name 'temp' -empty -exec rm -i {} \;

💡 Hint

You want to delete directories safely with confirmation and only empty ones named 'temp'.

Option B uses '-empty' to find empty directories named 'temp' and '-exec rm -ri {} +' to remove them interactively, prompting before each deletion. Option B deletes without prompt. Option B deletes recursively without prompt. Option B deletes interactively but not recursively, which fails for directories.