Find files on Linux with the command locate | Linux Today

Find files on Linux with the command locate

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Jul 12, 2012

I just realized that I’ve never wrote anything about one of my favorite commands on the Linux shell: locate.
This command take as input the name (or part of it) and instantly it gives you all the locations where that file is located, an alternative to this could be to use the command find, but there is an huge difference in the time that takes find to search large file systems in comparison to a locate, this difference is given from the fact that locate uses his own database where it stores all the file names, while find scan the directory and looks for the file name you have given as input.

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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