Recursive File Finder

This is a simple command-line utility written in C that recursively searches for files or directories by name starting from the current directory (./).

Features

• Recursive search through all subdirectories.
• Supports searching for both files and directories by exact name.
• Dynamically grows internal buffer to handle deep directory structures.
• Prints full relative paths to all matching entries.
• Minimal dependencies, uses POSIX directory APIs (opendir, readdir, etc).

How It Works

• Starts scanning from the current directory (./).
• For each directory entry, checks if the name matches the target.
• If a directory is found (other than . and ..), descends recursively.
• Uses a dynamically allocated buffer to build relative paths during recursion.
• Prints the relative path to each found file or directory matching the input name.

Limitations

• Only searches relative to the directory where the program is run.
• Matches are case-sensitive.
• No support for symbolic links or special file types.
• Does not support wildcards or partial matches.

Usage

git clone https://git.scratko.xyz/file-finder
cd file-finder
gcc -Wall file_finder.c -o file_finder
./file_finder <name_to_search>

Example

./file_finder README.md