---
name: "mlocate"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "mlocate"
version: "0.26-5"
release: "Debian 11 (Bullseye)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mlocate"
---

# mlocate(1)

find files by name

## NAME

locate - find files by name

## SYNOPSIS

**locate** \[*OPTION*\]... *PATTERN*...

## DESCRIPTION

**locate** reads one or more databases prepared by [**updatedb**(8)](/updatedb/8.md) and writes file names matching at least one of the *PATTERN*s to standard output, one per line.

If **--regex** is not specified, *PATTERN*s can contain 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 (but it does require all parent directories to exist if the database was built with **--require-visibility no**). **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 continues in other specified databases, if any.

## OPTIONS

- **-A**, **--all**

  Print only entries that match all *PATTERN*s instead of requiring only one of them to match.

- **-b**, **--basename**

  Match only the base name against the specified patterns. This is the opposite of **--wholename**.

- **-c**, **--count**

  Instead of writing file names on standard output, write the number of matching entries only.

- **-d, --database** *DBPATH*

  Replace the default database with *DBPATH*. *DBPATH* is a **:**-separated 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. The opposite can be specified using **--nofollow**.

- **-h**, **--help**

  Write a summary of the available options to standard output and exit successfully.

- **-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.

  This is the opposite of **--follow**.

- **-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 interoperability with the **--null** option of GNU [**xargs**(1)](/xargs/1.md).

- **-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** *REGEXP*

  Search for a basic regexp *REGEXP*. No *PATTERN*s are allowed if this option is used, but this option can be specified multiple times.

- **--regex**

  Interpret all *PATTERN*s as extended regexps.

- **-s**, **--stdio**

  Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU **locate**.

- **-V**, **--version**

  Write information about the version and license of **locate** on standard output and exit successfully.

- **-w**, **--wholename**

  Match only the whole path name against the specified patterns.

  This is the default behavior. The opposite can be specified using **--basename**.

## EXAMPLES

To search for a file named exactly *NAME* (not **\****NAME***\***), use

**locate -b** **'\\***NAME***'**

Because **\\** is a globbing character, this disables the implicit replacement of *NAME* by **\****NAME***\***.

## 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

The order in which the requested databases are processed is unspecified, which allows **locate** to reorder the database path for security reasons.

**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 confusing 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 implementation and **slocate**.

## AUTHOR

Miloslav Trmac \<mitr@redhat.com\>

## SEE ALSO

[**updatedb**(8)](/updatedb/8.md)