# find-up [](https://travis-ci.org/sindresorhus/find-up)
> Find a file or directory by walking up parent directories
## Install
```
$ npm install find-up
```
## Usage
```
/
└── Users
└── sindresorhus
├── unicorn.png
└── foo
└── bar
├── baz
└── example.js
```
`example.js`
```js
const path = require('path');
const findUp = require('find-up');
(async () => {
console.log(await findUp('unicorn.png'));
//=> '/Users/sindresorhus/unicorn.png'
console.log(await findUp(['rainbow.png', 'unicorn.png']));
//=> '/Users/sindresorhus/unicorn.png'
console.log(await findUp(async directory => {
const hasUnicorns = await findUp.exists(path.join(directory, 'unicorn.png'));
return hasUnicorns && directory;
}, {type: 'directory'}));
//=> '/Users/sindresorhus'
})();
```
## API
### findUp(name, options?)
### findUp(matcher, options?)
Returns a `Promise` for either the path or `undefined` if it couldn't be found.
### findUp([...name], options?)
Returns a `Promise` for either the first path found (by respecting the order of the array) or `undefined` if none could be found.
### findUp.sync(name, options?)
### findUp.sync(matcher, options?)
Returns a path or `undefined` if it couldn't be found.
### findUp.sync([...name], options?)
Returns the first path found (by respecting the order of the array) or `undefined` if none could be found.
#### name
Type: `string`
Name of the file or directory to find.
#### matcher
Type: `Function`
A function that will be called with each directory until it returns a `string` with the path, which stops the search, or the root directory has been reached and nothing was found. Useful if you want to match files with certain patterns, set of permissions, or other advanced use-cases.
When using async mode, the `matcher` may optionally be an async or promise-returning function that returns the path.
#### options
Type: `object`
##### cwd
Type: `string`
Default: `process.cwd()`
Directory to start from.
##### type
Type: `string`
Default: `'file'`
Values: `'file'` `'directory'`
The type of paths that can match.
##### allowSymlinks
Type: `boolean`
Default: `true`
Allow symbolic links to match if they point to the chosen path type.
### findUp.exists(path)
Returns a `Promise` of whether the path exists.
### findUp.sync.exists(path)
Returns a `boolean` of whether the path exists.
#### path
Type: `string`
Path to a file or directory.
### findUp.stop
A [`Symbol`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Symbol) that can be returned by a `matcher` function to stop the search and cause `findUp` to immediately return `undefined`. Useful as a performance optimization in case the current working directory is deeply nested in the filesystem.
```js
const path = require('path');
const findUp = require('find-up');
(async () => {
await findUp(directory => {
return path.basename(directory) === 'work' ? findUp.stop : 'logo.png';
});
})();
```
## Related
- [find-up-cli](https://github.com/sindresorhus/find-up-cli) - CLI for this module
- [pkg-up](https://github.com/sindresorhus/pkg-up) - Find the closest package.json file
- [pkg-dir](https://github.com/sindresorhus/pkg-dir) - Find the root directory of an npm package
- [resolve-from](https://github.com/sindresorhus/resolve-from) - Resolve the path of a module like `require.resolve()` but from a given path
---