find (command)

In computing, find is a command in the command line interpreters (shells) of DOS,^[1] OS/2 and Microsoft Windows.^[2] It is used to search for a specific text string in a file or files. The command sends the specified lines to the standard output device.^[3][4]

The Unix command find performs an entirely different function analogous to dir /s.

Overview

The find command is a filter to find lines in the input data stream that contain or don't contain a specified string and send these to the output data stream.

Syntax

FIND [/V] [/C] [/N] [/I] "string" [[drive:][path]filename[...]]

Arguments:

• "string" This command-line argument specifies the text string to find.
• [drive:][path]filename Specifies a file or files to search.

Flags:

• /V Displays all lines NOT containing the specified string.
• /C Displays only the count of lines containing the string.
• /N Displays line numbers with the displayed lines.
• /I Ignores the case of characters when searching for the string.

Note: If a pathname is not specified, FIND searches the text typed at the prompt or piped from another command.

Example

find "keyword" < inputfilename > outputfilename

See also

• find (command-line utility for Unix)
• Regular expression
• Wildcard character
• List of DOS commands
• grep

References

1. Jamsa, Kris A. (1993), DOS: The Complete Reference, Osborne McGraw-Hill, p. 206, ISBN 0078819040.
2. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490906.aspx Microsoft TechNet Find article
3. Paterson, Tim (2013-12-19) [1983]. "Microsoft DOS V1.1 and V2.0: /msdos/v20source/FIND.ASM". Computer History Museum, Microsoft. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
4. Shustek, Len (2014-03-24). "Microsoft MS-DOS early source code". Software Gems: The Computer History Museum Historical Source Code Series. Retrieved 2015-10-01.