There are two different programs that enable us to search the Linux file system.
Locate
This program works by building a daily database of files and their respective locations. When a search is performed, it looks in the DB for the results, the only problem is that the file may have changed in the last 24 hours and so the results returned will be wrong.
e.g. $ locate “*.conf”
Find
The find program does not use a database but searches directories and sub-directories for files matching the criteria.
e.g. $ find . -name “*.gzip”
Searching for Files in Linux