LOCATE(1)                    BSD Reference Manual                    LOCATE(1)

NAME
     locate - find files

SYNOPSIS
     locate pattern

DESCRIPTION
     Locate searches a database for all pathnames which match the specified
     pattern. The database is recomputed periodically, and contains the path-
     names of all files which are publicly accessible.

     Shell globbing and quoting characters (``*'', ``?'', ``\'', ``['' and
     ``]'') may be used in pattern, although they will have to be escaped from
     the shell.  Preceding any character with a backslash (``\'') eliminates
     any special meaning which it may have.  The matching differs in that no
     characters must be matched explicitly, including slashes (``/'').

     As a special case, a pattern containing no globbing characters (``foo'')
     is matched as though it were ``*foo*''.

FILES
     /var/db/locate.database

SEE ALSO
     find(1),  fnmatch(3)

     Woods, James A., "Finding Files Fast", ;login, 8:1, pp. 8-10, 1983.

HISTORY
     The locate command is currently under development.

BSDI BSD/386                    March 27, 1993                               1