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I've been trying to find a particular shared object within ./lib/ using the 'find' utility in the bash shell. To be more specific, to find this shared object I wanted to find all files that started with 'lib'. Here's a list, for example.

libpango-1.0.so.0  
libpango-1.0.so.0.3600.8 
libpangocairo-1.0.so.0
libpangocairo-1.0.so.0.3600.8
libpangoft2-1.0.so.0
libpangoft2-1.0.so.0.3600.8
libpangoxft-1.0.so.0
libpangoxft-1.0.so.0.3600.8

I tried using the -name option with the pattern 'lib.*', but none of the results I was looking for came up. Rather, several files from different directories & subdirectories were printed, whatnot. To be more specific, I typed this into the terminal:

find . -name 'lib.*' -print

Where exactly did I go wrong? What can I do to improve my pattern?

On another note, I'm using bash.

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  • 1
    Try find . -name 'lib*' instead.
    – cuonglm
    Jun 19, 2015 at 1:14
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    To elaborate a little, the argument to -name is a shell pattern, not a regular expression.
    – garyjohn
    Jun 19, 2015 at 1:35
  • Still no results, unfortunately. I tried on another terminal, and got the same result - nothing at all. :( Even tried different variations, such as: find . -name 'lib.*', find . -name 'lib.*', and find . -name '^lib.*' to no avail.
    – Charybdis
    Jun 19, 2015 at 1:36
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    Do you really mean ./lib/ (a lib directory below the current directory, .) - or are you trying to search /lib/ or perhaps /usr/lib/?
    – steeldriver
    Jun 19, 2015 at 1:55
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    find ./lib -name 'lib*' or regex: find ./lib -regex '^lib.*'. If you are searching elsewhere, replace ./lib to path to the diretory you are searching for.
    – Mingye Wang
    Jun 19, 2015 at 2:21

2 Answers 2

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2

You try to use a regex in your find command. To use a regex, you need the parameter -regex or you could use awk and find to find all files that started with lib.

find /usr/lib -type f | awk -F'/' '$NF ~ /^lib/'

Example

$ find /usr/lib -type f | awk -F'/' '$NF ~ /^lib/'
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libhousekeeping.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libkeyboard.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libxrdb.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libbackground.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libkeybindings.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libmedia-keys.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libclipboard.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libmouse.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libmpris.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libxsettings.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/liba11y-settings.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/liba11y-keyboard.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libsound.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libxrandr.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libtyping-break.so

Or without a regex:

find /usr/lib -type f -name "lib*"

Example

$ find /usr/lib -name "lib*"
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libhousekeeping.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libkeyboard.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libxrdb.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libbackground.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libkeybindings.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libmedia-keys.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libclipboard.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libmouse.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libmpris.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libxsettings.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/liba11y-settings.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/liba11y-keyboard.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libsound.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libxrandr.so
/usr/lib/mate-settings-daemon/libtyping-break.so
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1

If you are trying to find out if a particular library is installed, you can also use rpm

rpm -qa | grep lib

The installed packages usually are in /usr/lib or /usr/lib64 (for 64 bit version). So you can also do 

ls /usr/lib | grep lib

Or the find utility you were using

find /usr/lib -name "lib*"
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