====== Linux - Find - Find Empty Files ======

<code bash>
find ./ -type f -size 0
</code>

or

<code bash>
find ./ -type f -empty
</code>

This commands will find all zero size files in the current directory with sub-directories and then print the full pathname for each file to the screen.

  * **./**  means start searching from the current directory. If you want to find files from another directory then replace the ./ with the path to needed directory.  For example, to search everything under the system log directory you need to replace ./ with /var/log.
  * **-type f**  flag specifies to find only files.
  * **-size 0** and **-empty** flags specifies to find zero length files.

----

===== Find and then delete all zero size files =====

To find and then delete all zero size files, there are variants you can use:

<code bash>
find ./ -type f -size 0 -exec rm -f {} \;

find ./ -type f -size 0 | xargs rm -f

find ./ -type f -size 0 -delete
</code>

  * The xargs will cause all the filenames to be sent as arguments to the **rm -f** commands.  This will save processes that are forked every time **-exec rm -f** is run.  But it fails with spaces etc in file names.

<WRAP info>
**NOTE:**  The **-delete** option is the best choice when it is supported by the find you are using.

It avoids the overhead of executing the **rm** command by doing the **unlink()** call inside **find()**.
</WRAP>