How search for a file beginning with either a or z and ending with a or z?

Question

I attempted find -name 'a*' 'z*' '*a' '*z'

but it gave me the error code find: paths must precede expression: z*

I know how to find files starting with a though z, or ending with a-z, but not starting with specific letters.

Solution

Assuming I understood your question, you are possibly overcomplicating it. This should do

find your_directory -type f -name '[az]*[az]'

This omits files whose name is a single letter a or z. If you also want to include them, you need to specify another pattern: the name must match either [az]*[az] or [az].

find your_directory -type f \( -name '[az]*[az]' -o -name '[az]' \)

Comments

[Admin]

The error is because you can't combine multiple criteria this way. To specify that you want -name to be either a* or z*, you should say: -name 'a*' -o -name 'z*'. Of course 1_CR gave you the correct answer for your particular case.

[Mathias Begert]

@Gilles, thank you for addressing the corner case

[Matt]

find . '(' -name 'a*' -o -name 'z*' ')' -a '(' -name '*a' -o -name '*z' ')' is more similar to what @linux8807 was originally trying to express, and it also catches the corner case.

[frostschutz]

Or find -name '[az]*' -a -name '*[az]'

[linux8807]

Wouldn't find -name '[az]*' find files starting with az? That's how I interpreted that.

[Mathias Begert]

@linux8807, find -name '[az]*' finds files starting with either a or z. Pattern matching with find is based on shell pattern matching, so if you can get it to work with the shell on the command line, it should work similarly with find

[linux8807]

I'll be honest, I'm in school and the question my professor had for me was exactly "Now, suppose you want to list all the files in that same directory whose names start with a or z and end with a or z? " I've tried the answers given to me because I cannot find the help needed in my lessons or the Linux Bible. I first attempted with find ./directory '(' -name 'a*' -o -name 'z*' ')' -a '(' -name 'a' -o -name '*z' ')' which was considered incorrect them I attempted find ./directory -name '[az]' '*[az]' and still it was incorrect. Any ideas on what my professor could be asking for exactly?

[Mathias Begert]

@linux8807, have you tried find -name '[az]*[az]'

[Eduardo Lucio]

Another example based on @iruvar 's answer: find ./ -type f -name 'file_name*.ext'. Thanks! =D