Searching for a filename without a certain string

Question

So when you want to search for a file with a filename containing the string xyz from a directory to all depths, you write

sudo find path -name '*xyz*'

How do I find all files without the string xyz?

Eliah Kagan · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-20 08:25:38Z

9

Add a ! (not) before the expression:

sudo find path ! -name '*xyz*'

Eliah Kagan

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answered Jul 15, 2012 at 19:04

Gibbs

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Negation is also particularly useful when searching for permissions that are not set correctly -e.g. find <path> -type f ! -perm -444 or find <path> -type d ! -perm -111. For more on find see pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html.
– user76204
Jul 15, 2012 at 19:19
I think I'd tried this and it didn't work. Maybe I'd put the '!' in a different place? Anyway, this worked perfectly. And thanks for the tip, @Mik
– notablytipsy
Jul 16, 2012 at 7:50
1

You probably need to quote the !, i.e. use \!.
– Thor
Jul 16, 2012 at 8:41
I tried it as is and it wasn't necessary to use \!.
– John S Gruber
Aug 13, 2012 at 0:43

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Thor · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-15 19:25:34Z

3

To search for files not containing '*xyz*' do:

sudo find path -type f -not -name '*xyz*'

To search for paths (files and directories) not containing '*xyz*' do:

sudo find path -not -path '*xyz*'

To search case-insensitively prepend name or path with i, i.e. -iname or -ipath.

answered Jul 15, 2012 at 19:25

Thor

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