Linux locate command man page

This page shows the contents of the Linux locate comamnd man page. This locate command output was created on a CentOS Linux system.

You can see this same locate command man page output by entering this command on your own Linux system:

man locate

Linux locate command man page

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.

       PATTERNs	 can contains 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.


       -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.


       -h, --help
	      Write  a summary of the available options to standard output and
	      exit sucessfully.


       -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.


       -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 interoprerability 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 IREGEXP
	      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 licence of locate on
	      standard output and exit sucessfully.


       -w, --wholename
	      Match only the whole path name against the specified patterns.

	      This is the default behavior.


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
       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

SEE ALSO
       updatedb(8)

mlocate				   Jul 2005			     locate(1)

Unix/Linux locate command tutorials

Here are links to a couple of our Unix/Linux locate command tutorials:

• Unix/Linux locate command examples
• Unix/Linux Case-insensitive file searching with locate and find

The locate command is an excellent tool for helping you find files on Unix and Linux systems, and I hope these locate command examples will be helpful to you.

This locate command man page is included here so we can reference it directly from other locate command tutorials.