locate(1)

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       PATTERNs  can contains globbing characters.  If any PATTERN contains no
19       globbing characters, locate behaves as if the pattern were *PATTERN*.
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21       By default, locate does not check whether files found in database still
22       exist.   locate  can  never  report files created after the most recent
23       update of the relevant database.
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EXIT STATUS

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

37       -b, --basename
38              Match only the base name against the specified patterns.
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41       -c, --count
42              Instead of writing file names on standard output, write the num‐
43              ber of matching entries only.
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46       -d, --database DBPATH
47              Replace  the  default database with DBPATH.  DBPATH is a :-sepa‐
48              rated list of database file names.  If more than one  --database
49              option  is  specified,  the resulting path is a concatenation of
50              the separate paths.
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52              An empty database file name is replaced by the default database.
53              A  database file name - refers to the standard input.  Note that
54              a database can be read from the standard input only once.
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57       -e, --existing
58              Print only entries that refer to  files  existing  at  the  time
59              locate is run.
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62       -L, --follow
63              When  checking  whether files exist (if the --existing option is
64              specified), follow trailing symbolic links.  This causes  broken
65              symbolic links to be omitted from the output.
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67              This is the default behavior.
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70       -h, --help
71              Write  a summary of the available options to standard output and
72              exit sucessfully.
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75       -i, --ignore-case
76              Ignore case distinctions when matching patterns.
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79       -l, --limit, -n LIMIT
80              Exit successfully after finding LIMIT entries.  If  the  --count
81              option  is  specified,  the  resulting  count is also limited to
82              LIMIT.
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85       -m, --mmap
86              Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU locate.
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89       -P, --nofollow, -H
90              When checking whether files exist (if the --existing  option  is
91              specified),  do not follow trailing symbolic links.  This causes
92              broken symbolic links to be reported like other files.
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95       -0, --null
96              Separate the entries on output using  the  ASCII  NUL  character
97              instead  of  writing each entry on a separate line.  This option
98              is designed for interoprerability with the --null option of  GNU
99              xargs(1).
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102       -S, --statistics
103              Write  statistics  about  each  read database to standard output
104              instead of searching for files and exit successfully.
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107       -q, --quiet
108              Write no messages about errors  encountered  while  reading  and
109              processing databases.
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112       -r, --regexp REGEXP
113              Search  for  a  basic regexp REGEXP.  No PATTERNs are allowed if
114              this option is used, but this option can be  specified  multiple
115              times.
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118       --regex
119              Interpret all PATTERNs as extended regexps.
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122       -s, --stdio
123              Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU locate.
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126       -V, --version
127              Write  information  about  the  version and licence of locate on
128              standard output and exit sucessfully.
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131       -w, --wholename
132              Match only the whole path name against the specified patterns.
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134              This is the default behavior.
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FILES

138       /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db
139              The database searched by default.
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ENVIRONMENT

143       LOCATE_PATH
144              Path to additional databases, added after the  default  database
145              or the databases specified using the --database option.
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NOTES

149       The  order  in  which the requested databases are processed is unspeci‐
150       fied, which allows locate to reorder the  database  path  for  security
151       reasons.
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153       locate  attempts  to be compatible to slocate (without the options used
154       for creating databases) and GNU locate, in that  order.   This  is  the
155       reason  for the impractical default --follow option and for the confus‐
156       ing set of --regex and --regexp options.
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158       The short spelling of the -r option  is  incompatible  to  GNU  locate,
159       where  it corresponds to the --regex option.  Use the long option names
160       to avoid confusion.
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162       The LOCATE_PATH environment variable replaces the default  database  in
163       BSD  and  GNU locate, but it is added to other databases in this imple‐
164       mentation and slocate.
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AUTHOR

168       Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>
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