File Location
| Locate files in a directory hierarchy. |
xargs | Process a list of located files (and much more). |
locate | Create an index of files, and search the index for string. |
which | Locate executables in your search path (command). |
type | Locate executables in your search path (bash built-in). |
whereis | Locate executables, documentation, and source files. |
A Macintosh can contain hundreds of thousands of files easily. How can you find a particular file when you need to? The first step is to organize your files logically into directories in some thoughtful manner, but there are several other ways to find files, including those that the Finder’s built-in search cannot locate.
For finding any file, find
is a
brute-force program that slogs file-by-file through a directory hierarchy
to locate a target. locate
is much
faster, searching through a prebuilt index that you generate as needed. OS
X does not generate the index by default, but you can set it up to do
so.
For finding programs, the which
and type
commands check all directories in your shell search path.
type
is built into the bash shell, while which
is a program (normally /usr/bin/which); type
is faster and can
detect shell aliases. In contrast, whereis
examines a known
set of directories, rather than your search path.
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