This command finds and prints all the symbolic and hard links to a file. Note that the file argument itself be a link and it will find the original file as well. You can also do this with the inode number for a file or directory by first using stat or ls or some other tool to get the number like so: stat -Lc %i file or ls -Hid file And then using: find -L / -inum INODE_NUMBER -exec ls -ld {} +

Tested with GNU and BSD ls. Show Sample Output

Show Sample Output

The "type" builtin command is handy to find out what executable will be used if you issue a command. But on some distros, particularly when using /etc/alternatives, certain executables get buried under layers and layers of symbolic links and it becomes hard to find which one. If you put the above command in your .bashrc, it adds a "-c" option to the type command that will weed through the symbolic links and prints the actual file that will be executed. Show Sample Output

This command stores data in the following files: files.txt, links.txt Find and read all symbolic links in /path1 and stores list in links.txt find /path1 -type l -exec readlink -f {} \; > links.txt Find all files in /path2 and stores list in files.txt find /path2 -type f > files.txt && Displays lines in files.txt that do not exist in links.txt grep -Fxv -f links.txt files.txt Show Sample Output