plocate
A locate replacement that finds files by name in milliseconds using a trigram posting-list index.
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About plocate
plocate is a locate(1) implementation that fully replaces mlocate with a much faster and smaller index. It builds an inverted index over trigrams in file names, so a search narrows candidates quickly instead of scanning every entry. In the author's example it found two files among 27 million in a few milliseconds.
It uses io_uring for asynchronous I/O when available on Linux 5.1 and later, which helps on systems without SSDs. It is suitable as the default locate on a Linux system.
Strengths
- Very fast file name lookups
- Smaller index than mlocate
- Drop-in replacement for the system locate
Limitations
- Linux only
- Results are only as fresh as the last index update
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source.
- License
- GPL-2.0-or-later
- Developer
- Steinar H. Gunderson
- Platforms
- Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Linux users who want instant file name searches across a whole system
- Categories
- System utilities, CLI tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to plocate
Compare allSoftware that can replace plocate for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
fd
Finds files by name without the argument soup that find requires, and it is much faster.
fd searches file names live without an index, so results are always current, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and respects gitignore by default.
bfs
A breadth-first variant of the UNIX find command that stays compatible with common find versions.
bfs is a breadth-first find replacement that walks the filesystem live with find syntax, so it needs no index but is slower than an indexed lookup.
fselect
A command-line tool for finding files with a relaxed SQL-like query syntax.
fselect finds files live using an SQL-like query syntax with aggregates, works on Windows, macOS and Linux, and does not rely on a prebuilt index.
plocate as an alternative
Listings that name plocate as an alternative.
Everything
A free Windows search tool from voidtools that finds files and folders by name instantly.
plocate is an open-source Linux command-line locate replacement whose results are only as fresh as the last index update.
FSearch
Find Linux files quickly through an indexed desktop search.
plocate is a command-line locate replacement with a compact trigram index, trading FSearch's graphical interface for terminal lookups on Linux.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
ripgrep
Searches a whole directory tree for a pattern in a fraction of the time grep takes, and skips what gitignore says to skip.
fzf
A fuzzy filter for any list: files, command history, processes, branches, anything you can pipe into it.
Television
Search files and other data through a terminal fuzzy finder.
ugrep
A grep-compatible file searcher with a text interface, Boolean queries, fuzzy matching and archive search.
zoxide
Learns the directories you actually use, so changing to one takes a few letters instead of a full path.
