locate(1) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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LOCATE(1)                   NetBSD Reference Manual                  LOCATE(1)


NAME

     locate - find files


SYNOPSIS

     locate pattern


DESCRIPTION

     locate searches a database for all pathnames which match the specified
     pattern. The database is recomputed periodically, and contains the path-
     names of all files which are publicly accessible.

     Shell globbing and quoting characters (``*'', ``?'', ``\'', ``['' and
     ``]'') may be used in pattern, although they will have to be escaped from
     the shell.  Preceding any character with a backslash (``\'') eliminates
     any special meaning which it may have.  The matching differs in that no
     characters must be matched explicitly, including slashes (``/'').

     As a special case, a pattern containing no globbing characters (``foo'')
     is matched as though it were ``*foo*''.


FILES

     /var/db/locate.database


SEE ALSO

     find(1),  fnmatch(3)

     Woods, James A., "Finding Files Fast", ;login, 8:1, pp. 8-10, 1983.


HISTORY

     The locate command appears in 4.4BSD.

4.4BSD                           June 6, 1993                                1