locate(1)		    General Commands Manual		     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,  --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  con-
       tinues 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 num-
	      ber of matching entries only.


       -d, --database DBPATH
	      Replace  the  default database with DBPATH.  DBPATH is a :-sepa-
	      rated 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 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  replace-
       ment 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  unspeci-
       fied,  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  confus-
       ing 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 databases in  this	imple-
       mentation and slocate.


AUTHOR
       Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>


SEE ALSO
       updatedb(8)



mlocate				   Jul 2005			     locate(1)