How do I search for a file using LMDE

[merryoakparker]

I'm a noobie and have used the search box and cannot find the answer to a simple question. How do i search my computer, including the Windows partition, for a file (picture, text, music, etc). I've got to be missing something. Windows has a simple "sear" command which is obvious. I cannot find such a command in LMDE.
Help, please.
merryoakparker

[mockturtl]

I'm a noobie and have used the search box and cannot find the answer to a simple question. How do i search my computer, including the Windows partition, for a file (picture, text, music, etc). I've got to be missing something. Windows has a simple "sear" command which is obvious. I cannot find such a command in LMDE.
Help, please.
merryoakparker

Cinnamon's file manager (nemo) has a search function -- click the "magnifying glass" icon in the top right. MATE (caja) and KDE (dolphin) are similar.

The command

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find . -iname foo*

will search the current directory for filenames like "food" or "Foo Fighters" (-iname is case insensitive).

To know the location of an executable program file, use which.

[karlchen]

Hello, merryoakparker.

Searching for files and folders using the commandline:

Any Linux edition, including Linux Mint Debian Edition, comes with the command find. Run

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man find

in order to learn how to use the find command correctly. Beware: The find commandline syntax is not really trivial and may be a bit confusing, in particular for (former) Windows users.

Another command available on Mint 14, so I assume on LMDE as well, is the command locate. Again run

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man locate

in order to learn how to use the locate command correctly.

Searching for files and folders using the graphical filemanager:

Any Mint system comes with a default graphical filemanager which handles the desktop as well as operations related to files and folders. Depending on the desktop engine that you are using, Mate, Cinnamon etc, this filemanager may be Caja, Nautilus or Nemo.
In the filemanager window go to the menu "Go to". It holds an item "Search for ...". This item allows you to specify what to look for and where.

Searching on Linux filesystems and on Windows filesystems simultaneously:

By default, a Windows filesystem may not be mounted when LMDE has been started.
No matter whether you use the commandline or the filemanager to perform the search, you will have to make sure that all disk partitions where you want to search have been mounted before you start the search operation.
(This is not really different from Windows. Only usually, no-one notices, because Windows users usually just use Windows filesystems which will be mounted automatically if available. Out of the box, Windows cannot even mount Linux filesystems like EXT4 directly. Mint, however, can handle various Linux and Windows filesystems. But they must have been mounted in order to search them.)

Kind regards,
Karl