An explanation of how to use the locate command on a Mac, which allows you to search for files quickly!

My name is Ito and I am an infrastructure engineer who uses both Mac and Windows

When it comes to Mac file search features, Spotlight search is the best! However, Spotlight alone can't find configuration files deep inside the folder...

The "locate" command can be used in such situations. It creates an index database of files and allows you to search for files quickly.
Although it requires creating and updating the file index database, it is much faster than the find command.
Incidentally, the find command searches for and displays files in real time, so it is not as fast.

So I thought I'd try using the locate command to find the file, but I couldn't immediately use the locate command on my Mac...
This time, I'll show you how to use the locate command on a Mac.

Locate on Mac

I got scolded like this.

Well, I thought it was because I hadn't run the updatedb command, but it said that the updatedb command didn't exist...

Now, let's read again what is written in the locate command

WARNING: The locate database (/var/db/locate.database) does not exist. To create the database, run the following command: sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist Please be aware that the database can take some time to generate; once the database has been created, this message will no longer appear.

Simply translated

Note! The locate database does not exist.
To create the database, run the following command:

  sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist

That's it. It wasn't the updatedb command.
So, let's do as instructed and execute the command.

It ended in an instant and I was worried, so I ran it again

It looks like it's creating a database behind the scenes

It depends on the capacity of your Mac, so it's hard to say for sure, but try using the locate command again after about 5 minutes

The locate command returned the results.
I guess there's no rsyncd.conf... I'll write about this in another article.

Now you can find library files and other files that even Spotlight can't find!

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