Terminal - Files

Question 1

Find files which have been modified today

Answer 1

find . -mtime -1 -print

Question 2

Find all backup files in a directory

Answer 2

find . -name *~ -print

Question 3

Find all backup files and delete them!

Answer 3

find . -name “*~” -exec rm {} \;

Question 4

Change permissions for all folders only

Answer 4

find . -type d -exec chmod g+x {} \;

Question 5

Set the group id bit (so files created later in the folder belong to the folder’s group)

Answer 5

chmod g+s directory

Question 6

Uncompress lots of zips with just one line of terminal commands

Answer 6

find *.zip -exec unzip {} \;

Question 7

Find only files

Answer 7

find . -type f

Question 8

Find only files … and delete them!

Answer 8

find . -type f -delete

Question 9

Recursively find files which contain a given text

Answer 9

grep -lir “a given text” *

Question 10

Find in files but do not search in .git directories

Answer 10

grep -Ir –exclude-dir=”.git” “pattern” *

Question 11

Move files from nested folders to current directory (“un-nest” them)

Answer 11

find . -type f -exec mv {} . \;

Question 12

Available space in disk

Answer 12

df -h

Question 13

Show differences between two files without taking into account whitespace (very useful when line returns and spaces/tabs are messing up normal diffs)

Answer 13

diff -w file1 file2

Question 14

Get the md5 hash of a file

Answer 14

md5sum filename

Question 15

Meaning of:

find . -mtime -1 -print

Answer 15

Find files which have been modified today

Question 16

Meaning of:

find . -name *~ -print

Answer 16

Find all backup files in a directory

Question 17

Meaning of:

find . -name “*~” -exec rm {} \;

Answer 17

Find all backup files and delete them!

Question 18

Meaning of:

find . -type d -exec chmod g+x {} \;

Answer 18

Change permissions for all folders only

Question 19

Meaning of:

chmod g+s directory

Answer 19

Set the group id bit (so files created later in the folder belong to the folder’s group)

Question 20

Meaning of:

find *.zip -exec unzip {} \;

Answer 20

Uncompress lots of zips with just one line of terminal commands

Question 21

Meaning of:

find . -type f

Answer 21

Find only files

Question 22

Meaning of:

find . -type f -delete

Answer 22

Find only files … and delete them!

Question 23

Meaning of:

grep -lir “a given text” *

Answer 23

Recursively find files which contain a given text

Question 24

Meaning of:

grep -Ir –exclude-dir=”.git” “pattern” *

Answer 24

Find in files but do not search in .git directories

Question 25

# Meaning of: find . -type f -exec mv {} . \;

Answer 25

Move files from nested folders to current directory (“un-nest” them)

Question 26

# Meaning of: df -h

Answer 26

Available space in disk

Question 27

# Meaning of: diff -w file1 file2

Answer 27

Show differences between two files without taking into account whitespace (very useful when line returns and spaces/tabs are messing up normal diffs)

Question 28

# Meaning of: md5sum filename

Answer 28

Get the md5 hash of a file