cym13/locate

Description

This is an implementation of locate in bash. I believe it is consequently faster than locate in most circumstances. This is based on a previous analysis by Julia Evans.

Documentation

Usage: locate [OPTION]... PATTERN...

Options:
    -b, --basename          Match only the base name, opposite of --wholename
    -c, --count             Writes only the number of matching entries
    -d, --database DBPATH   Replace the default database path with DBPATH
    -e, --existing          Print only entries that refer to existing files
    -L, --follow            When checking whether files exist, follow symlinks
    -h, --help              Print this help and exist
    -i, --ignore-case       Ignore case distinction when matching patterns
    -l, --limit, -n LIMIT   Exit successfully after finding LIMIT entries
    -m, --mmap              Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU locate
    -P, --nofollow, -H      Opposite of --follow
    -0, --null              Separate the entries on output with \0
    -S, --statistics        Write statistics about each read database
    -q, --quiet             Write no messages about error encountered
    -r, --regexp REGEXP     Search for a basic regexp
    --regex                 Interpret all PATTERNs as extended regexps
    -s, --stdio             Ignored, for compatibility with BSD and GNU locate
    -u, --update            Updates the database
    -V, --version           Write information about the version and license
    -w, --wholename         Match only the whole path name, the default.

Implementation notes

Patterns are quite primitive, using regex is advised
The --basename and --wholename options are ignored when using regex

On performances

Experience shows that when not using patterns this version is far superior in term of speed. However its performances are far worse when using patterns or regexes.

Dependencies

This version depends mostly on grep and find, those should be already available on any unix system.

Install

Simply copy locate to a directory in your path. You can update the database using locate -u, but if you prefer the traditional way you can make a symbolic link to locate named "updatedb" and use that link instead.

License

This program is under the GPLv3 License.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Contact

Main developper: Cédric Picard
Email:           cedric.picard@efrei.net

cym13 / locate