I lost a big project backup

[Chris Edgell]

Hi, all...thanks for your responses!

halitech: I think my "Thunar" is the equivalent to your "Nautilus" as I am xubuntu. When I press Thunar I get the window that I think it's correct to call a directory named: chris-file manager. I seem unable to find an opportunity to press CTRL+H.

cariboo907: Thanks for the tip about enclosing the search string with quotation marks.
tgalati4: I'll make a habit of using the underline instead of spaces.
In the meantime, I changed the name of this file to the non-space form.
And to the two of you, I was unable to get a response. Here's what
I typed: find/ "-chris_June_29th,_2009.abw"(enter)
Where did I go wrong...I'm going back and do it again, just to double check...

[WRDN]

You missed the space between find and /. Also, if you are unsure of the exact filename, then add "-name" to the command. Just copy and paste the command below:

find / -name "-chris_June_29th,_2009.abw"

[Chris Edgell]

I pasted that in and got a maybe a couple hundred types of "Permission denied".
I thought I had the space in there...sometimes that space looks tiny compared to THIS type-style..be that as it may...

[Chris Edgell]

chris@chris-desktop:~$ find / -name "-chris_June_29th,_2009.abw"
find: /var/lib/gdm: Permission denied
find: /var/lib/PolicyKit: Permission denied
find: /var/run/sudo: Permission denied
find: /var/run/cups/certs: Permission denied
find: /var/cache/ldconfig: Permission denied
find: /var/cache/system-tools-backends/backup: Permission denied
find: /var/spool/cron/crontabs: Permission denied
find: /var/spool/cron/atspool: Permission denied
find: /var/spool/cron/atjobs: Permission denied
find: /var/spool/cups: Permission denied
find: /tmp/gconfd-root: Permission denied
find: /tmp/orbit-root: Permission denied
find: /root/.gnome2: Permission denied
find: /root/.synaptic: Permission denied
find: /root/.gnome2_private: Permission denied
find: /root/.aptitude: Permission denied
find: /root/PDF: Permission denied
find: /root/.gconfd: Permission denied
find: /root/.gconf: Permission denied
find: /root/.hplip: Permission denied

[halitech]

Hi, all...thanks for your responses!

halitech: I think my "Thunar" is the equivalent to your "Nautilus" as I am xubuntu. When I press Thunar I get the window that I think it's correct to call a directory named: chris-file manager. I seem unable to find an opportunity to press CTRL+H.

Your Thunar in Xubuntu is the same as my thunar in Debian. CRTL + H is done on the keyboard or you can go View - Show Hidden files, same result

[Chris Edgell]

I just can't seem to "get" what screen I'm to be looking at when I press CTRL+H.
It can't be just looking at the "Desktop" because nothing happens if I'm there when I press. Sorry if I sound so, how shall I say, dumb??!!

[halitech]

open Thunar and when it opens and you are looking at your files, press Crtl + H

[Chris Edgell]

I have clicked around here and there, I can't do anything with Thunar.
What can I learn about it???

[If I am in an open file and press Ctrl+H I do get a find and replace with box even though I'm hard pressed to find something and replace it with something else.]

[Mornedhel]

I've been following this thread without posting.

I get the feeling the OP translated the -name argument to find into -chris at some point, and is trying to find a filename with spaces in it by replacing them with underscores after another poster pointed out that spaces are usually unwieldy in the command line.

I think the correct find command is closer to this :

find / -name "June 29th. 2009.abw"

or assuming that he kept his files in his home directory,

find ~ -name "June 29th. 2009.abw"

[Chris Edgell]

Okay, (thanks for joining in); but before I go to try that, tell me, if you've read it all then you know I'm looking for the backup file--or is it most probably as one has said,really gone.

But if I were looking for a backup file in future, would I end that line with:
2009.abw*.bak~." ? [do I have the *.bak~." right?]