1locate(1)                   General Commands Manual                  locate(1)
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NAME

6       locate - find files by name
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SYNOPSIS

10       locate [OPTION]... PATTERN...
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DESCRIPTION

14       locate  reads  one or more databases prepared by updatedb(8) and writes
15       file names matching at least one of the PATTERNs  to  standard  output,
16       one per line.
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18       If  --regex is not specified, PATTERNs can contain globbing characters.
19       If any PATTERN contains no globbing characters, locate  behaves  as  if
20       the pattern were *PATTERN*.
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22       By default, locate does not check whether files found in database still
23       exist (but it does require all parent directories to exist if the data‐
24       base  was built with --require-visibility no).  locate can never report
25       files created after the most recent update of the relevant database.
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EXIT STATUS

29       locate exits with status 0 if any match was  found  or  if  locate  was
30       invoked  with  one  of the --limit 0, --help, --statistics or --version
31       options.  If no match was found  or  a  fatal  error  was  encountered,
32       locate exits with status 1.
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34       Errors  encountered while reading a database are not fatal, search con‐
35       tinues in other specified databases, if any.
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OPTIONS

39       -A, --all
40              Print only entries that match all PATTERNs instead of  requiring
41              only one of them to match.
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44       -b, --basename
45              Match  only  the base name against the specified patterns.  This
46              is the opposite of --wholename.
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49       -c, --count
50              Instead of writing file names on standard output, write the num‐
51              ber of matching entries only.
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54       -d, --database DBPATH
55              Replace  the  default database with DBPATH.  DBPATH is a :-sepa‐
56              rated list of database file names.  If more than one  --database
57              option  is  specified,  the resulting path is a concatenation of
58              the separate paths.
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60              An empty database file name is replaced by the default database.
61              A  database file name - refers to the standard input.  Note that
62              a database can be read from the standard input only once.
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65       -e, --existing
66              Print only entries that refer to  files  existing  at  the  time
67              locate is run.
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70       -L, --follow
71              When  checking  whether files exist (if the --existing option is
72              specified), follow trailing symbolic links.  This causes  broken
73              symbolic links to be omitted from the output.
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75              This  is  the  default  behavior.  The opposite can be specified
76              using --nofollow.
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79       -h, --help
80              Write a summary of the available options to standard output  and
81              exit successfully.
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84       -i, --ignore-case
85              Ignore case distinctions when matching patterns.
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88       -l, --limit, -n LIMIT
89              Exit  successfully  after finding LIMIT entries.  If the --count
90              option is specified, the resulting  count  is  also  limited  to
91              LIMIT.
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94       -m, --mmap
95              Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU locate.
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98       -P, --nofollow, -H
99              When  checking  whether files exist (if the --existing option is
100              specified), do not follow trailing symbolic links.  This  causes
101              broken symbolic links to be reported like other files.
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103              This is the opposite of --follow.
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106       -0, --null
107              Separate  the  entries  on  output using the ASCII NUL character
108              instead of writing each entry on a separate line.   This  option
109              is  designed  for interoperability with the --null option of GNU
110              xargs(1).
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113       -S, --statistics
114              Write statistics about each read  database  to  standard  output
115              instead of searching for files and exit successfully.
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118       -q, --quiet
119              Write  no  messages  about  errors encountered while reading and
120              processing databases.
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123       -r, --regexp REGEXP
124              Search for a basic regexp REGEXP.  No PATTERNs  are  allowed  if
125              this  option  is used, but this option can be specified multiple
126              times.
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129       --regex
130              Interpret all PATTERNs as extended regexps.
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133       -s, --stdio
134              Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU locate.
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137       -V, --version
138              Write information about the version and  license  of  locate  on
139              standard output and exit successfully.
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142       -w, --wholename
143              Match only the whole path name against the specified patterns.
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145              This  is  the  default  behavior.  The opposite can be specified
146              using --basename.
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EXAMPLES

150       To search for a file named exactly NAME (not *NAME*), use
151              locate -b '\NAME'
152       Because \ is a globbing character, this disables the implicit  replace‐
153       ment of NAME by *NAME*.
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FILES

157       /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db
158              The database searched by default.
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ENVIRONMENT

162       LOCATE_PATH
163              Path  to  additional databases, added after the default database
164              or the databases specified using the --database option.
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NOTES

168       The order in which the requested databases are  processed  is  unspeci‐
169       fied,  which  allows  locate  to reorder the database path for security
170       reasons.
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172       locate attempts to be compatible to slocate (without the  options  used
173       for  creating  databases)  and  GNU locate, in that order.  This is the
174       reason for the impractical default --follow option and for the  confus‐
175       ing set of --regex and --regexp options.
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177       The  short  spelling  of  the  -r option is incompatible to GNU locate,
178       where it corresponds to the --regex option.  Use the long option  names
179       to avoid confusion.
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181       The  LOCATE_PATH  environment variable replaces the default database in
182       BSD and GNU locate, but it is added to other databases in  this  imple‐
183       mentation and slocate.
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AUTHOR

187       Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>
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SEE ALSO

191       updatedb(8)
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195mlocate                            Sep 2012                          locate(1)
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