Search System

1 min read · data search locate plocate

You can search every file on the computer instantly by installing plocate.

Once installed, run sudo updatedb to create the database of (nearly) every file on the computer.

Check how big the database is:

1du -h /var/lib/plocate/plocate.db

Once you have the database, you can find nearly any file instantly.

  • Search for gifs: locate .gif
  • Search for gifs in the /usr/ directory: locate /usr/ .gif
  • Search for jpg images with 'dog' or 'Dog' in the name: locate -i dog jpg
  • Search for videos: plocate --regex '.mp4$|.mkv$|.wmv$|.webm$|.mov$|.avi$'

For best results, run updatedb regularly, perhaps in crontab.

Search More Places

plocate will not search /tmp/, because nobody cares about those files, and won't search inside /mnt/, because that's where USB sticks get mounted, so the files keep changing as USB sticks come and go.

Change where plocate searches by editing the configuration file at /etc/updatedb.conf.

By default, the /mnt directory is 'pruned' from the database. So if you want to search /mnt for videos, remove the word /mnt from the configuration file.

1su root
2cat /etc/updatedb.conf
3sed -i 's#/mnt/##' /etc/updatedb.conf
4updatedb
5exit

Now you can search in /mnt for films:

1plocate --regex '.mp4$|.mkv$|.wmv$|.webm$|.mov$|.avi$'