Ubuntu Manpage: locate - list files in databases that match a pattern

NAME

       locate - list files in databases that match a pattern

SYNOPSIS

       locate  [-d path | --database=path] [-e | -E | --[non-]existing] [-i | --ignore-case] [-0 | --null] [-c |
       --count] [-w | --wholename] [-b | --basename] [-l N | --limit=N] [-S |  --statistics]  [-r  |  --regex  ]
       [--regextype  R]  [--max-database-age  D] [-P | -H | --nofollow] [-L | --follow] [--version] [-A | --all]
       [-p | --print] [--help] pattern...

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page documents the GNU version of locate.  For each given pattern,  locate  searches  one  or
       more  databases of file names and displays the file names that contain the pattern.  Patterns can contain
       shell-style metacharacters: `*', `?', and `[]'.  The metacharacters do not treat `/' or  `.'   specially.
       Therefore, a pattern `foo*bar' can match a file name that contains `foo3/bar', and a pattern `*duck*' can
       match  a file name that contains `lake/.ducky'.  Patterns that contain metacharacters should be quoted to
       protect them from expansion by the shell.

       If a pattern is a plain string — it contains no metacharacters — locate displays all file  names  in  the
       database  that  contain  that  string  anywhere.   If  a pattern does contain metacharacters, locate only
       displays file names that match the pattern exactly.  As a result, patterns  that  contain  metacharacters
       should  usually  begin with a `*', and will most often end with one as well.  The exceptions are patterns
       that are intended to explicitly match the beginning or end of a file name.

       The file name databases contain lists of files that were on the  system  when  the  databases  were  last
       updated.   The  system administrator can choose the file name of the default database, the frequency with
       which the databases are updated, and the directories for which they contain entries; see updatedb(1).

       If locate's output is going to a terminal, unusual characters in the output are escaped in the  same  way
       as  for  the -print action of the find command.  If the output is not going to a terminal, file names are
       printed exactly as-is.

OPTIONS

-0, --null
Use ASCII NUL as a separator, instead of newline.

-A, --all
Print only names which match all non-option arguments, not those matching one or more non-option
arguments.

-b, --basename
Results are considered to match if the pattern specified matches the final component of the name
of a file as listed in the database. This final component is usually referred to as the `base
name'.

-c, --count
Instead of printing the matched filenames, just print the total number of matches we found, unless
--print (-p) is also present.

-d path, --database=path
Instead of searching the default file name database, search the file name databases in path, which
is a colon-separated list of database file names. You can also use the environment variable
LOCATE_PATH to set the list of database files to search. The option overrides the environment
variable if both are used. Empty elements in the path are taken to be synonyms for the file name
of the default database. A database can be supplied on stdin, using `-' as an element of path. If
more than one element of path is `-', later instances are ignored (and a warning message is
printed).

The file name database format changed starting with GNU find and locate version 4.0 to allow
machines with different byte orderings to share the databases. This version of locate can
automatically recognize and read databases produced for older versions of GNU locate or Unix
versions of locate or find. Support for the old locate database format will be discontinued in a
future release.

-e, --existing
Only print out such names that currently exist (instead of such names that existed when the
database was created). Note that this may slow down the program a lot, if there are many matches
in the database. If you are using this option within a program, please note that it is possible
for the file to be deleted after locate has checked that it exists, but before you use it.

-E, --non-existing
Only print out such names that currently do not exist (instead of such names that existed when the
database was created). Note that this may slow down the program a lot, if there are many matches
in the database.

--help Print a summary of the options to locate and exit.

-i, --ignore-case
Ignore case distinctions in both the pattern and the file names.

-l N, --limit=N
Limit the number of matches to N. If a limit is set via this option, the number of results
printed for the -c option will never be larger than this number.

-L, --follow
If testing for the existence of files (with the -e or -E options), consider broken symbolic links
to be non-existing. This is the default.

--max-database-age D
Normally, locate will issue a warning message when it searches a database which is more than 8
days old. This option changes that value to something other than 8. The effect of specifying a
negative value is undefined.

-m, --mmap
Accepted but does nothing, for compatibility with BSD locate.

-P, -H, --nofollow
If testing for the existence of files (with the -e or -E options), treat broken symbolic links as
if they were existing files. The -H form of this option is provided purely for similarity with
find; the use of -P is recommended over -H.

-p, --print
Print search results when they normally would not, because of the presence of --statistics (-S) or
--count (-c).

-r, --regex
The pattern specified on the command line is understood to be a regular expression, as opposed to
a glob pattern. The Regular expressions work in the same was as in emacs except for the fact that
"." will match a newline. GNU find uses the same regular expressions. Filenames whose full paths
match the specified regular expression are printed (or, in the case of the -c option, counted).
If you wish to anchor your regular expression at the ends of the full path name, then as is usual
with regular expressions, you should use the characters ^ and $ to signify this.

--regextype R
Use regular expression dialect R. Supported dialects include `findutils-default', `posix-awk',
`posix-basic', `posix-egrep', `posix-extended', `posix-minimal-basic', `awk', `ed', `egrep',
`emacs', `gnu-awk', `grep' and `sed'. See the Texinfo documentation for a detailed explanation of
these dialects.

-s, --stdio
Accepted but does nothing, for compatibility with BSD locate.

-S, --statistics
Print various statistics about each locate database and then exit without performing a search,
unless non-option arguments are given. For compatibility with BSD, -S is accepted as a synonym
for --statistics. However, the output of locate -S is different for the GNU and BSD
implementations of locate.

--version
Print the version number of locate and exit.

-w, --wholename
Match against the whole name of the file as listed in the database. This is the default.

ENVIRONMENT

       LOCATE_PATH
              Colon-separated list of databases to search.  If the value has a leading or trailing colon, or has
              two colons in a row, you may get results that vary between different versions of locate.

HISTORY

       The locate program started life as the BSD fast find program, contributed to BSD by James A. Woods.  This
       was  described  by  his  paper  Finding  Files  Fast  which was published in Usenix ;login:, Vol 8, No 1,
       February/March, 1983, pp. 8-10.   When the find program began to assume a default  -print  action  if  no
       action  was  specified,  this  changed  the interpretation of find pattern.  The BSD developers therefore
       moved the fast find functionality into locate.  The GNU implementation of locate appears  to  be  derived
       from the same code.

       Significant changes to locate in reverse order:
       4.3.7     Byte-order independent support for old database format
       4.3.3     locate -i supports multi-byte characters correctly
                 Introduced --max_db_age
       4.3.2     Support for the slocate database format
       4.2.22    Introduced the --all option
       4.2.15    Introduced the --regex option
       4.2.14    Introduced options -L, -P, -H
       4.2.12    Empty items in LOCATE_PATH now indicate the default database
       4.2.11    Introduced the --statistics option
       4.2.4     Introduced --count and --limit
       4.2.0     Glob characters cause matching against the whole file name
       4.0       Introduced the LOCATE02 database format
       3.7       Locate can search multiple databases

BUGS

       The  locate  database  correctly  handles  filenames  containing  newlines, but only if the system's sort
       command has a working -z option.  If you suspect that locate may  need  to  return  filenames  containing
       newlines, consider using its --null option.

REPORTING BUGS

       GNU findutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/#get-help>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

       Report any other issue via the form at the GNU Savannah bug tracker:
              <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=findutils>
       General topics about the GNU findutils package are discussed at the bug-findutils mailing list:
              <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-findutils>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  ©  1994-2022  Free  Software  Foundation,  Inc.   License  GPLv3+:  GNU GPL version 3 or later
       <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to  the  extent
       permitted by law.