How to locate a file in a directory

Question

How can I locate a file using locate in CentOS under a specific directory from terminal? Locate search the whole database!

Answer 1

locate does not seem to have an option to do this, but you can still search specific directories using one of the following:

• Use wildcards in your search. Example: locate '*/directory/*filename*'
• Use grep with locate. Example: locate filename | grep /directory/
• Use the find command. Example: find /my/directory/ -name filename. You can also restrict your search to directories or files by appending -type d or -type f. To find a file named 'myScript' in your home folder you could do this: find ~/ -name myScript -type f. This will search for a file (not directories) named exactly 'myScript' inside your home folder.

Answer 2

There is no option for that functionality in the output from man locate on CentOS 6.5, at least. But, you could get pseudo-functionality by changing a search term. For example, locate cron might produce too much output, but locate '/var/log/cron' would limit the results to those items in the locate database that match the search terms. Or, a pipe would work: locate cron | grep '/var/log/' Otherwise, use find: find /path/to/search -name '*cron*' or similar.