Search for file using “find” command

Per man find:

The find utility recursively descends the directory tree for each path
listed, evaluating an expression (composed of the “primaries” and
“operands” listed below) in terms of each file in the tree.

Search for a file under a directory

You can search for a file with specific name like so:

find /path/to/search -name <name of file/dir>

The default path to search is the current directory ., and it will search recursively until the very end.

Limit your search to N-depth

You may know how “deep” your file/directory is buried in your home directory, and it may be unnecessary to search recursively down to the bottom.

You should add the -maxdepth <N> option to your find command to limit the search depth:

find /path/to/search -maxdepth 3 -name <name of file/dir>

The above command will search at most three directories below /path/to/search.

Limit your serach to specific type of files

If you want to limit your search to a specific type of file (e.g. only care about directories), then modify the command as below:

find /path/to/search -type d -name <name of file/dir>

The option -type <type> will limit the search on directories.

Here is a list of other types you may find useful: