locate simply looks its database and reports the file location. find does not use a database, it traverses all the directories and their sub directories and looks for files matching the given criterion.
What is difference between find and locate command?
The find command has a number of options and is very configurable. … locate uses a previously built database, If database is not updated then locate command will not show the output. to sync the database it is must to execute updatedb command.
What is use of find & locate command in Linux?
Conclusion
- Use find to search for files based on name, type, time, size, ownership and permissions, in addition to some other useful options.
- Install and use Linux locate command to perform faster system-wide searches for files. It also allows you to filter out by name, case-sensitive, folder, and so on.
What is locate in Linux?
locate is a Unix utility which serves to find files on filesystems. It searches through a prebuilt database of files generated by the updatedb command or by a daemon and compressed using incremental encoding. It operates significantly faster than find , but requires regular updating of the database.
When to use find and locate?
locate simply looks its database and reports the file location. find does not use a database, it traverses all the directories and their sub directories and looks for files matching the given criterion.
Which is faster find or locate?
2 Answers. locate uses a database and periodically does an inventory of your file system. The database is optimized for searching. find needs to traverse the whole subdirectory, which is pretty fast, but not as fast as locate.
How do I use find in Linux?
Basic Examples
- find . – name thisfile.txt. If you need to know how to find a file in Linux called thisfile. …
- find /home -name *.jpg. Look for all . jpg files in the /home and directories below it.
- find . – type f -empty. Look for an empty file inside the current directory.
- find /home -user randomperson-mtime 6 -iname “.db”
How does Linux locate work?
How Does locate Work. The locate command searches for a given pattern through a database file that is generated by the updatedb command. The found results are displayed on the screen, one per line. During the installation of the mlocate package, a cron job is created that runs the updatedb command every 24 hours.
How do you install find in Linux?
To install mlocate, use the YUM or APT package manager as per your Linux distribution as shown. After installing mlocate, you need to update the updatedb, which is used by locate command as root user with the sudo command, otherwise you will get an error.
How do I list files in Linux?
The easiest way to list files by name is simply to list them using the ls command. Listing files by name (alphanumeric order) is, after all, the default. You can choose the ls (no details) or ls -l (lots of details) to determine your view.
What is the type command in Linux?
type command in Linux with Examples. The type command is used to describe how its argument would be translated if used as commands. It is also used to find out whether it is built-in or external binary file.
How do I find a string in Linux?
Finding text strings within files using grep
-R – Read all files under each directory, recursively. Follow all symbolic links, unlike -r grep option. -n – Display line number of each matched line. -s – Suppress error messages about nonexistent or unreadable files.
How do I find the path in Linux?
To find the absolute path of command in Linux/Unix system, we use which command. Note: The echo $PATH command will show the directory path. The which command, locate the command from these directories. Example : In this example,we will find the absolute path of useradd command.
What is Linux Updatedb command?
DESCRIPTION. updatedb creates or updates a database used by locate(1). If the database already exists, its data is reused to avoid rereading directories that have not changed. updatedb is usually run daily by cron(8) to update the default database.