Linux text editor temp files search

Question

I remember reading where it is bad security practice to edit files directly on the server because it may create hidden temporary files. Is it possible to search for these files? I was thinking of find / -name .*, but that returns "paths must precede expression: .." and do not know if that will include all files possibly created by elvis or nano.

Answer 1

Put the name in quotes:

find / -name '.*'

otherwise the shell interprets it and runs something like:

find / -name . ..

Answer 2

I've seen several versions of that "backup" file name pattern but the most common one has always contained a ~. If you're just looking for ~ then something like this would work...

find / -name '*~*'

If you want to find hidden files then...

find / -name '.*'