mdfind is the built in command line tool that utilises the spotlight search engine on macOS. Every Spotlight query is an AND search by default. It is surprisingly powerful.
* Mastering Spotlight - superuser.com 
The mdfind command consults the central metadata store and returns a list of files that match the given metadata query. The query can be a string or a query expression.
The following useful options are available: * -onlyin dir (search the directory specified) * -name fileName (matching file names)
Passing a simple string searches all metadata fields. So:
mdfind image
returns all files with any metadata attribute value matching the string "image"
mdfind "kMDItemAuthors == '*MyFavoriteAuthor*'"
returns all files that contain "MyFavoriteAuthor" in the kMDItemAuthor metadata attribute:
Here are some useful links:
* The Power of mdfind - macdevcenter.com
* Spotlight syntax, mdfind examples, and metadata attributes - osxnotes.net
Spotlight/mdfind uses the following frequently uses search syntax:
name:file.txt kind:"jpeg image" date:today date:"this week" modified:12/31/11 created:12/1/11-12/31/11 kind:video AND size:<100000
All words passed in a query string to mdfind are implicitly ANDed together. That is, "invoice apress" means both words must appear. Spotlight allows other Boolean operators as well:
# Searching for named attributes
If I'm only interested in certain attributes, I can use the -name option:
mdls -name kMDItemComposer "11 Space Truckin'.m4a"
mdfind -name javascript -onlyin ~/Books
and you can use wildcards:
mdfind 'kMDItemFSName=*.pdf'
If you want to only list folders (in spotlight kind:folders):
mdfind 'kMDItemKind=folders&&kMDItemFSName=folderName''
You can create complex searches by building up complex strings:
mdfind 'kMDItemFSName=convert&&kMDItemContentType=public.unix-executable'
# Getting precise
Now that I know some attribute names, I can get very precise in how I search. Say I want to find songs composed by Roger Waters. I need to search the kMDItemComposer attribute for "Waters". I'll put the string I'm searching for in double quotes, and then the entire search expression in single quotes.
mdfind 'kMDItemComposer = "Waters"'
I know that I have more than three songs written by Roger Waters, so I'll rerun the search with wildcards, with an asterisk to mean "any string."
mdfind 'kMDItemComposer = "*Waters*"'
If I want a case-insensitive search, I can put the letter c outside the double quotes, as in this search to find all forms of "McCartney", regardless of the capitalization.
mdfind 'kMDItemComposer = "*mccartney*"c'
# More shell examples
You can find many more examples over at osxnotes.net
# See also
Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's OS X and iOS operating systems - wikipedia
When you type in your search terms, Spotlight looks for even a partial match at the beginning of a word. So, when you search for phon you’ll find phone, phony, and phonatory, but not symphony.
All words passed in a query string to mdfind are implicitly ANDed together. That is, "invoice apress" means both words must appear. Spotlight allows other Boolean operators as well: