Just learned about Linux locate (Mon, Jun 23, 2003)

Wow, I just learned about the Linux locate command the other day. I'm going to have to quit using find so much. The locate command is very quick, assuming it can find what it's looking for in it's cache.

Here's a quick locate example. Assume that you have apache installed on your system, but you can't remember where it is. Just type locate apachectl to find the apachectl command, and you'll see locate return some output, very quickly, like this:

your_prompt> locate apachectl

/usr/local/web/apache-1.3.24/bin/apachectl
/usr/local/web/apache-1.3.24/man/man8/apachectl.8
/usr/local/web/apache-1.3.24/htdocs/manual/programs/apachectl.html
/usr/src/apache_1.3.24/src/support/apachectl
/usr/src/apache_1.3.24/src/support/apachectl.8
/usr/src/apache_1.3.24/htdocs/manual/programs/apachectl.html

Notice that it matches other files that also contain the word apachectl, so you may get more than you bargained for. For more info, type locate --help or man locate.