locate

LOCATE(1L) LOCATE(1L)

NAME

locate - list files in databases that match a pattern


SYNOPSIS
locate [-d path | --database=path] [-e | --existing] [-i | --ignore-
case ] [--version] [--help] pattern...

DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents the GNU version of locate. For each given
pattern, locate searches one or more databases of file names and dis-
plays the file names that contain the pattern. Patterns can contain
shell-style metacharacters: "*", "?", and "[]". The metacharacters do
not treat "/" or "." specially. Therefore, a pattern "foo*bar" can
match a file name that contains "foo3/bar", and a pattern "*duck*" can
match a file name that contains "lake/.ducky". Patterns that contain
metacharacters should be quoted to protect them from expansion by the
shell.


If a pattern is a plain string -- it contains no metacharacters --
locate displays all file names in the database that contain that string
anywhere. If a pattern does contain metacharacters, locate only dis-
plays file names that match the pattern exactly. As a result, patterns
that contain metacharacters should usually begin with a "*", and will
most often end with one as well. The exceptions are patterns that are
intended to explicitly match the beginning or end of a file name.


The file name databases contain lists of files that were on the system
when the databases were last updated. The system administrator can
choose the file name of the default database, the frequency with which
the databases are updated, and the directories for which they contain
entries; see updatedb(1L).


OPTIONS
-d path, --database=path
Instead of searching the default file name database, search the
file name databases in path, which is a colon-separated list of
database file names. You can also use the environment variable
LOCATE_PATH to set the list of database files to search. The
option overrides the environment variable if both are used.


The file name database format changed starting with GNU find and locate
version 4.0 to allow machines with diffent byte orderings to share the
databases. This version of locate can automatically recognize and read
databases produced for older versions of GNU locate or Unix versions of
locate or find.


-e, --existing
Only print out such names that currently exist (instead of such
names that existed when the database was created). Note that
this may slow down the program a lot, if there are many matches
in the database.


-i, --ignore-case
Ignore case distinctions in both the pattern and the file names.


--help Print a summary of the options to locate and exit.


--version
Print the version number of locate and exit.


ENVIRONMENT
LOCATE_PATH
Colon-separated list of databases to search.



SEE ALSO

find(1L), locatedb(5L), updatedb(1L), xargs(1L) Finding Files (on-line
in Info, or printed)






LOCATE(1L)