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Searching ​

Command Line ​

On *nix systems, the following command line interface (CLI) tools are usually available.

Locate ​

this uses a database to look for something. This can be fast, and can include sources that are not currently online.

Should be easy to shard off searches (where do you want to look?). Base it on collections.

locate
locate

Is there a way to limit the scope of the search? The whole system can often return too many values to parse through manually.

Find ​

there is also find

if you just want to look for file names (not look within a file) this is a good place to start much faster than a grep

find * -iname "*{{look_for}}*"
find * -iname "*{{look_for}}*"

lots of parameters that can help. What about narrow by extension?

Grep ​

grep -ir "look for" * 

grep -ir "look for" * | grep -i "one more thing"
grep -ir "look for" * 

grep -ir "look for" * | grep -i "one more thing"

Sometimes there are compiled javascript files that are quite large and will overflow the CLI buffer and prevent access to earlier results. It is possible to ignore these long "lines" in the output:

grep -rLZE '.{200}' . | xargs -r0 grep pattern
grep -rLZE '.{200}' . | xargs -r0 grep pattern

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=grep+skip+long+lines&ia=web
grep skip long lines at DuckDuckGo
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/113497/exclude-files-that-have-very-long-lines-of-text-from-grep-output
Exclude files that have very long lines of text from grep output - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange

Locating Files ​

use updatedb to create indexes of different drives then use a locate command to quickly query different drive catalogs

Locate databases can be used to create an index of what exists on a filesystem. This is useful for documenting what is on a drive before taking it offline or re-formatting it.

updatedb & locate ​

sudo updatedb -U /media/account/ -o database.file.name

(for more options, see:

man updatedb

Then, to use a previously generated database file to look for files, use locate:

    man locate

      -d, --database DBPATH
              Replace  the  default database with DBPATH.  DBPATH is a :-sepa‐
              rated list of database file names.  If more than one  --database
              option  is  specified,  the resulting path is a concatenation of
              the separate paths.
    man locate

      -d, --database DBPATH
              Replace  the  default database with DBPATH.  DBPATH is a :-sepa‐
              rated list of database file names.  If more than one  --database
              option  is  specified,  the resulting path is a concatenation of
              the separate paths.

how to unpack a locate database and print all files from it (printing to screen is sufficient)

update db ​

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=updatedb+specify+output+file&t=canonical&ia=web
updatedb specify output file at DuckDuckGo
https://www.lifewire.com/updatedb-linux-command-4095883
updatedb - Linux Command
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/379725/what-kind-of-database-do-updatedb-and-locate-use#379729
find - What kind of database do updatedb and locate use? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/unix_commands/updatedb.htm
updatedb - Unix, Linux Command - Tutorialspoint

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=linux+create+list+of+all+files+on+a+drive&t=canonical&ia=web
linux create list of all files on a drive at DuckDuckGo
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/105212/recursively-list-all-files-in-a-directory-including-files-in-symlink-directories
linux - Recursively list all files in a directory including files in symlink directories - Stack Overflow
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=linux+locate+database&t=canonical&ia=web
linux locate database at DuckDuckGo
http://www.linfo.org/locate.html
How to use the locate command, by The Linux Information Project

Windows utilities ​

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=index+of+drive&t=canonical&ia=web
index of drive at DuckDuckGo
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_print_a_list_of_whats_on_my_usb_drive.html
How do I print a list of what's on my USB drive?
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=karens+directory+printer+linux&t=canonical&ia=web
karens directory printer linux at DuckDuckGo
https://alternativeto.net/software/directory-printer/
Karen's Directory Printer Alternatives and Similar Software - AlternativeTo.net