locate Command in Linux

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locate is a Linux command that allows you to quickly find files and directories by their names. It performs much faster compared to find command because it uses a database that is regularly updated with the file paths on the system.

When you type a search term, the locate scans this database to return results almost instantly. This means you can find files without knowing their exact path or name, even handling partial matches.

Table of Contents

Here is a comprehensive guide to the options available with the locate command −

• How to Install locate Command in Linux?
• Syntax of locate Command
• locate Command Options
• Examples of locate Command in Linux

How to Install locate Command in Linux?

The locate command is not installed by default on most Linux systems. Here's how you can install it on different Linux distributions −

Debian-based Systems (like Ubuntu) −

sudo apt install plocate

Red Hat-based Systems (like Fedora) −

sudo yum install plocate

Arch Linux −

sudo pacman -S plocate

OpenSUSE −

sudo zypper install plocate

After installation, you need to update the locate database using the following command to make it functional −

sudo updatedb

Syntax of locate Command

The basic syntax to use the locate command on Linux is as follows −

locate [options] [pattern]

Where,

• [options] are different flags that are used to refine the search.
• pattern is the filename or partial filename you're searching for. Wildcards (*) and regular expressions are allowed.

locate Command Options

The following table summarizes different options available for the locate command on Linux system −

Examples of locate Command in Linux

Let's explore a few practical examples of Linux locate command −

• Find a Specific File by Name
• Ignore Case Sensitivity
• Limit the Number of Search Results
• Search Using Regular Expressions
• Count the Number of Matches

Find a Specific File by Name

To find a file named example.txt, simply use the locate command followed by the filename. This will list all paths where example.txt is found −

locate example.txt

Ignore Case Sensitivity

If you want to find example.txt without worrying about the case, use the -i option. The command provided below will locate the file regardless of whether it's written in uppercase or lowercase −

locate -i example.txt

Limit the Number of Search Results

In case you want to limit the number of results, you can use the -n option followed by the number of results you want. Follow the below-given command to return only the first 5 matches found −

locate -n 5 example.txt

Search Using Regular Expressions

For more complex searches, you can use the -r option to include regular expressions. The following example searches for example.txt within the /usr directory and its subdirectories −

locate -r '^/usr.*bin/example.txt$'

Count the Number of Matches

If you only want to know the number of matching entries, simply use the -c option. The following command will display the total count of files named example.txt −

locate -c example.txt

These detailed examples should help you master the locate command and make your file searches much more efficient on Linux.

Conclusion

The locate command is a powerful tool in Linux for quickly finding files and directories by their names. It significantly outperforms the find command in speed, thanks to its use of a pre-built, regularly updated database.

In this tutorial, we covered the installation process, detailed the syntax, explored various options, and provided practical examples. With these insights, you can efficiently utilize the locate command to make your file searches on Linux swift and effective.