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fd vs GNU findutils: catalog facts
fd	GNU findutils
Best for: Finding a file when you remember part of its name	Best for: Searching for files and acting on them from a Unix shell
Free Free and open source, dual licensed under the Apache 2.0 and MIT licences.	Free Free software from the GNU Project.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Linux, Command line
One short argument instead of find's syntax Smart case: case-insensitive until your pattern contains a capital All 4 strengths for fd One short argument instead of find's syntax Smart case: case-insensitive until your pattern contains a capital Parallel traversal and parallel command execution Respects gitignore and skips hidden files by default	Powerful file matching by name, type, size, time and more locate gives very fast lookups from a file name database All 3 strengths for GNU findutils Powerful file matching by name, type, size, time and more locate gives very fast lookups from a file name database xargs runs commands over large lists of files
Command line only Does not aim to cover all of find's functionality All 4 limitations for fd Command line only Does not aim to cover all of find's functionality The opinionated defaults need flags to turn off Not present by default on any system	locate results are only as current as the last updatedb run Option syntax is dense and takes time to learn
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: GPL-3.0-or-later
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for fd github.com/sharkdp/fd Catalog checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for GNU findutils gnu.org/software/findutils Catalog checked October 1, 2026

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