How to Search for a File in Red Hat

Red Hat is one of Linux's many "distributions." Linux is an open-source operating system with many different versions all running on the same basic UNIX-like framework. You can therefore search for a file in Red Hat the same way you search for a file in any other version of Linux or other UNIX-like operating system: by opening a terminal and using the simple "find" command.

Instructions

1. Open Red Hat's main menu, click "System Tools," then click "Terminal." This brings up a terminal window in which you can type text commands to the operating system.

2. Type the following command:

   find /home/user/directory -name "file.txt" -print

   The first parameter after "find" should be the directory you want to search. If you want to search the entire filesystem, just use "/" -- this is the root directory. After the "-name" switch, enter the filename you want to search for in quotes. Note that you can use wildcards here -- "report*" will find all files beginning with "report," for example, while "*.txt" will find every file with a "txt" extension. Finally, the "-print" switch tells the operating system to print the locations of the files on the screen. This switch is unnecessary in some versions of Red Hat, but it can't hurt.

3. Press "Enter" to complete the command and view the search results.

References

• Low Fat Linux: Find
• The Fedora Basics FAQ: Linux Basics