locate(1)                                                                                                              locate(1)



NAME
       locate - find files by name


SYNOPSIS
       locate [OPTION]... PATTERN...


DESCRIPTION
       locate reads one or more databases prepared by updatedb(8) and writes file names matching at least one of the PATTERNs to
       standard output, one per line.

       If --regex is not specified, PATTERNs can contain globbing characters.  If any PATTERN contains no  globbing  characters,
       locate behaves as if the pattern were *PATTERN*.

       By  default,  locate  does  not check whether files found in database still exist.  locate can never report files created
       after the most recent update of the relevant database.


EXIT STATUS
       locate exits with status 0 if any match was found or if locate was invoked with one of the --limit 0,  --help,  --statis-
       tics or --version options.  If no match was found or a fatal error was encountered, locate exits with status 1.

       Errors encountered while reading a database are not fatal, search continues in other specified databases, if any.


OPTIONS
       -b, --basename
              Match only the base name against the specified patterns.  This is the opposite of --wholename.


       -c, --count
              Instead of writing file names on standard output, write the number of matching entries only.


       -d, --database DBPATH
              Replace  the default database with DBPATH.  DBPATH is a :-separated list of database file names.  If more than one
              --database option is specified, the resulting path is a concatenation of the separate paths.

              An empty database file name is replaced by the default database.  A database file name - refers  to  the  standard
              input.  Note that a database can be read from the standard input only once.


       -e, --existing
              Print only entries that refer to files existing at the time locate is run.


       -L, --follow
              When  checking  whether files exist (if the --existing option is specified), follow trailing symbolic links.  This
              causes broken symbolic links to be omitted from the output.

              This is the default behavior.  The opposite can be specified using --nofollow.


       -h, --help
              Write a summary of the available options to standard output and exit successfully.


       -i, --ignore-case
              Ignore case distinctions when matching patterns.


       -l, --limit, -n LIMIT
              Exit successfully after finding LIMIT entries.  If the --count option is specified, the resulting  count  is  also
              limited to LIMIT.


       -m, --mmap
              Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU locate.


       -P, --nofollow, -H
              When  checking whether files exist (if the --existing option is specified), do not follow trailing symbolic links.
              This causes broken symbolic links to be reported like other files.

              This is the opposite of --follow.


       -0, --null
              Separate the entries on output using the ASCII NUL character instead of writing each entry  on  a  separate  line.
              This option is designed for interoperability with the --null option of GNU xargs(1).


       -S, --statistics
              Write statistics about each read database to standard output instead of searching for files and exit successfully.


       -q, --quiet
              Write no messages about errors encountered while reading and processing databases.


       -r, --regexp REGEXP
              Search  for  a basic regexp REGEXP.  No PATTERNs are allowed if this option is used, but this option can be speci-
              fied multiple times.


       --regex
              Interpret all PATTERNs as extended regexps.


       -s, --stdio
              Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU locate.


       -V, --version
              Write information about the version and licence of locate on standard output and exit successfully.


       -w, --wholename
              Match only the whole path name against the specified patterns.

              This is the default behavior.  The opposite can be specified using --basename.


EXAMPLES
       To search for a file named exactly NAME (not *NAME*), use
              locate -b '\NAME'
       Because \ is a globbing character, this disables the implicit replacement of NAME by *NAME*.


FILES
       /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db
              The database searched by default.


ENVIRONMENT
       LOCATE_PATH
              Path to additional databases, added after the default database or the databases  specified  using  the  --database
              option.


NOTES
       The order in which the requested databases are processed is unspecified, which allows locate to reorder the database path
       for security reasons.

       locate attempts to be compatible to slocate (without the options used for creating databases) and  GNU  locate,  in  that
       order.   This is the reason for the impractical default --follow option and for the confusing set of --regex and --regexp
       options.

       The short spelling of the -r option is incompatible to GNU locate, where it corresponds to the --regex option.   Use  the
       long option names to avoid confusion.

       The  LOCATE_PATH environment variable replaces the default database in BSD and GNU locate, but it is added to other data-
       bases in this implementation and slocate.


AUTHOR
       Miloslav Trmac <mitrATredhat.com>


SEE ALSO
       updatedb(8)



mlocate                                                     Jul 2005                                                   locate(1)