Search for files in Fedora 3

wjal · 05-22-2005, 09:41 PM

How does one search for files in Fedora 3?

IBall · 05-22-2005, 09:49 PM

You can use find. To search the current directory for a file called foo.txt:

Code:

find . -name foo.txt -print

If your slocate database is up to date, you can also use slocate

Code:

slocate foo.txt

To make sure slocate is up to date, you need to run updatedb as root:

Code:

updatedb

Find will take longer, but will be more accurate than locate, since locate is using a database that may be several days old. If the file has recently been created, use find, or run updatedb (Takes a long time...) before using locate.

I hope this helps
--Ian

reddazz · 05-22-2005, 10:14 PM

If you use gnome or kde, there is a built in search utility for files somewhere in the menu.

wjal · 05-22-2005, 10:36 PM

That's the ticket. - thanks Ian.

wjal · 05-22-2005, 10:51 PM

reddazz - I'm using Gnome, I looked through the menu for a search app but did not find one. It probably has an odd name that I don't recognize. I will try opening a bunch of apps just to find out what they are.

Ian, that updatedb command seems to be taking an extraordinarily long time 6-7 minutes or is it just not telling me that it is done?

reddazz · 05-22-2005, 11:42 PM

If its not in the main menu, then its in the Actions menu on your top panel (if you didn't remove it).

IBall · 05-23-2005, 06:57 AM

updatedb does take a really long time. The more files you have, the longer it takes. On my machine it takes about 10 minutes to run.

Most people have it set up to run as a cron job. Check in /etc/cron.daily to see if it is there. Then it will run everynight and keep the locate database up to date.

--Ian

wjal · 05-23-2005, 09:51 PM

Quote:

If its not in the main menu, then its in the Actions menu on your top panel (if you didn't remove it).

Oops, there it is on the Action Menu, cleverly hidden, in plain sight.