Knowing how to locate files in your filesystem is crucial for a Linux user.
Here are 7 Linux command-line tools to help you quickly and easily locate files on your system: ๐งโ
Here are 7 Linux command-line tools to help you quickly and easily locate files on your system: ๐งโ
[1] fd
fd is a program that searches your filesystem for entries. It is an easy, quick, and user-friendly alternative to find. While it does not intend to support all of the find's powerful functionality, it does provide reasonable defaults for the vast majority of use cases.
fd is a program that searches your filesystem for entries. It is an easy, quick, and user-friendly alternative to find. While it does not intend to support all of the find's powerful functionality, it does provide reasonable defaults for the vast majority of use cases.
[2] fzf
fzf is an abbreviation for fuzzy finder. Fzf is a tiny, lightning-fast command-line tool that allows you to quickly search for and open files in Linux.
fzf is an abbreviation for fuzzy finder. Fzf is a tiny, lightning-fast command-line tool that allows you to quickly search for and open files in Linux.
It is portable, has no dependencies, and has a flexible layout with a Vim/Neovim plugin, key bindings, and fuzzy auto-completion support.
[3] plocate
plocate is a newer, much faster locate.
It searches the system for all files that match the specified pattern (or all of the patterns if multiple are given). This is accomplished through the use of an index created by the updatedb command.
plocate is a newer, much faster locate.
It searches the system for all files that match the specified pattern (or all of the patterns if multiple are given). This is accomplished through the use of an index created by the updatedb command.
[4] find
find is a powerful, frequently used command-line utility that locates files based on some user-specified criteria and either outputs the pathname of each found item or performs an action on each matched object .....
find is a powerful, frequently used command-line utility that locates files based on some user-specified criteria and either outputs the pathname of each found item or performs an action on each matched object .....
if the action is requested, for example, deleting the found items or listing its permissions.
[5] which
which returns the pathnames of the files (or links) that would be run in the current environment if its inputs were supplied as commands in a POSIX-compliant shell.
which returns the pathnames of the files (or links) that would be run in the current environment if its inputs were supplied as commands in a POSIX-compliant shell.
It accomplishes this by searching the PATH for executable files that match the names of the inputs. Path names are not canonicalized.
[6] whereis
In Linux, the whereis command is used to locate a program's binary, source, and manual page files. This command looks for files in a certain list of places (binary file directories, man page directories, and library directories).
In Linux, the whereis command is used to locate a program's binary, source, and manual page files. This command looks for files in a certain list of places (binary file directories, man page directories, and library directories).
It is typically used to locate program executables, man pages, and configuration files.
[7] locate
Like the find command, the locate command is a commonly used command-line tool for quickly searching files by their names.
Like the find command, the locate command is a commonly used command-line tool for quickly searching files by their names.
But, it is more efficient and faster than find because, instead of looking through the file system when a user performs a file search operation (like find does), locate searches a database that stores bits and sections of files and their respective file system paths.
This database can be updated using the updatedb command.
This information should be sufficient to help you save time by starting to search for files like a pro on your Linux system.
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