lfs-book/appendixa/findutils-desc.xml

<sect2>
<title>Contents</title>

<para>
The Findutils package contains the find, locate, updatedb and xargs
programs.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Description</title>

<sect3><title>Find</title>

<para>
The find program searches for files in a directory hierarchy which match
a certain criteria. If no criteria is given, it lists all files in the
current directory and it's subdirectories.
</para>

</sect3>

<sect3><title>Locate</title>

<para>
Locate scans a database which contain all files and directories on a
filesystem. This program lists the files and directories in this
database matching a certain criteria. If you're looking for a file this
program will scan the database and tell you exactly where the files you
requested are located. This only makes sense if your locate database is
fairly up-to-date else it will provide you with out-of-date information.
</para>

</sect3>

<sect3><title>Updatedb</title>

<para>
The updatedb program updates the locate database. It scans the entire
file system (including other file system that are currently mounted
unless you specify it not to) and puts every directory and file it finds
into the database that's used by the locate program which retrieves this
information. It's a good practice to update this database once a day so
that you are ensured of a database that is up-to-date.
</para>

</sect3>

<sect3><title>Xargs</title>

<para>
The xargs command applies a command to a list of files. If you need to
perform the same command on multiple files, you can create a file that
contains all these files (one per line) and use xargs to perform that
command on the list.
</para>

</sect3>

</sect2>