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 (but it does require all parent directories
       to exist if the database was built with --require-visibility no).  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, --statistics
       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 lim‐
	      ited 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  specified
	      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 license 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 


SEE ALSO
       updatedb(8)



mlocate 						     Aug 2011							 locate(1)