​what Two Commands Below Can Be Used to Locate Files on a Filesystem?

There are a number of Linux utilities that tin exist used to locate files in a Linux installation with 3 of the well-nigh common being discover, locate, and which. All three of these utilities have similar functions, but piece of work and return data in different means. In this commodity, nosotros are going to discuss these three useful and powerful command-line utilities to search for a particular file.

Locate Command

locate is a Unix utility which serves to find files on filesystems. It searches through a prebuilt local database of all files on the filesystem generated by the updatedb command. Note it is essential to update the database as recent files saved over a period of fewer than 24 hours are not updated into the database by default and the database is updated in one case within 24 hours span.

Syntax:

locate [OPTION]... Pattern...

For Example: Let united states create a file on desktop named findme.txt. Using locate command without updating the database returns no output still afterwards updating the local database of all files on the filesystem, we are finally able to locate the file.

1. Creating a new file findme

          echo "findme" >> findme        

1. Using locate findme

1. Unable to find the file. The local database of all files on the filesystem is updated.

1. Trying locate command once again locate findme

1. File location shown. Hence it is essential to update the database prior to using the locate command.

Which

The whichcommand searches through the directories that are divers in the $PATH environment variable for a given filename. If a lucifer is found, which returns the full path to the executable file

Syntax:

which [-a] filename ...

For Example:

which aircrack-ng

Returns the path to the aircrack-ng executable file.

Notice

The find command is a more than ambitious search tool than locate or which. Notice is able to recursively search whatsoever given path for various files. Using the file command nosotros can search for files past proper noun, owner, grouping, permissions, type, size, time modified, date and diverse other criteria. The detect control is highly efficient but this efficiency comes at a cost of time.

Syntax:

notice  [-H]  [-L] [-P] [-D debugopts] [-Olevel] [starting-point...]  [expression]

The -H, -L and -P options control the handling of symbolic links. The options -H -L -P -D -O must appear earlier the get-go pathname if needed. The function of the command line after the list of starting points is the expression. This is a kind of query specification describing how we match files and what we practice with the files that were matched.

Entering file or file. will display the pathnames of all files in the current directory and all subdirectories. The default directory is current directory and default expression is -impress.

. represents current directory

/ represents root directory

• Searching a file by its name

#  observe / -name findme

• Searching a text file only

#  detect / -proper name "*.txt"

• Searching a file ignoring case.

#  find / -iname fIndMe

• Searching for file merely.

#  discover / -blazon f -name findme

• Searching for directories only.

#  find / -type d -name detect

• Searching for file based on permission.

#  find / -type f -perm 0777 -print

• Changing permission of a file.

#  find / -type f -perm 0777 -exec chmod 755 {} \;

• Files modified more than than ten days.

#  find / -mtime 10

• Files modified less than 10 days.

#  observe / -mtime -10

• Files modified more than 1 infinitesimal.

#  discover / -mmin ane

• Files modified less than 1 minutes.

#  find / -mmin -i

• Files with size more than 10MB.

#  detect / -size 10M

• Search for empty files and directories

#  find / -empty

Conclusion: Last differences between locate and find

• There are advantages and disadvantages to using locate to find filenames instead of the find command. A locate command finds files faster because it searches a database instead of having to search the whole filesystem live. A dis-advantage is that the locate command cannot detect any files added to the system since the previous fourth dimension the database was created.
  
• Not every file in your filesystem is stored in the database. The contents of the /etc/updatedb.conf file limit which filenames are collected past pruning out select mountain types, filesystem types, file types, and mount points. For example,filenames are not gathered from remotely mounted filesystems (cifs, nfs, and so on) or locally mounted CDs or DVDs. Paths containing temporary files(/tmp) and spool files (/var/spool/cups) are too pruned. You can add items to prune (or remove some items that you don't desire pruned) the locate database to your needs.
• As a regular user, you won't exist able see whatever files from the locate database that you couldn't see in the filesystem normally. For example, if you tin't blazon ls to view files in the /root directory, you won't be able to locate files stored in that directory.
• If you add files to your organisation afterward updatedb runs, y'all won't exist able to locate those files until updatedb runs again. To get the database to contain all files upwards to the electric current moment, y'all can simply run updatedb from the crush as root.
• The notice command is the best control for searching your filesystem for files, based on a multifariousness of attributes.When you run discover, it searches your filesystem live, which causes information technology to run slower than locate, but gives you an up-to-the-moment view of the files on your Linux system.Notwithstanding, you can also tell detect to start at a particular point in the filesystem, so the search tin can become faster by limiting the surface area of the filesystem being searched.

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Source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-locate-which-and-find-command-in-linux/

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