NAME
locate —
find files
SYNOPSIS
locate |
[-d dbpath]
pattern |
DESCRIPTION
locate searches a database for all pathnames which match
the specified pattern. The database is recomputed
periodically, and contains the pathnames of all files which are publicly
accessible.
Shell globbing and quoting characters (``*'', ``?'', ``\'', ``['' and ``]'') may be used in pattern, although they will have to be escaped from the shell. Preceding any character with a backslash (``\'') eliminates any special meaning which it may have. The matching differs in that no characters must be matched explicitly, including slashes (``/'').
As a special case, a pattern containing no globbing characters (``foo'') is matched as though it were ``*foo*''.
Options:
-ddbpath- Sets the list of databases to search to dbpath which can name one or more database files separated by ``:'', an empty component in the list represents the default database. The environment variable LOCATE_PATH has the same effect.
FILES
- /var/db/locate.database
- Default database
EXIT STATUS
locate exits with a 0 if a match is found,
and >0 if no match is found or if another problem (such as a missing or
corrupted database file) is encountered.
SEE ALSO
find(1), fnmatch(3), locate.conf(5), weekly.conf(5), locate.updatedb(8)
Woods, James A., Finding Files Fast, ;login, 8:1, pp. 8-10, 1983.
HISTORY
The locate command appeared in
4.4BSD.