How to install the locate command?

Question

I wish to have the command locate in ubuntu 12.04 (which is used for finding files. I believe there is such a command but I cannot see it in ubuntu 12.04 Is it part of any package?

Answer 1

sudo apt-get install mlocate should install the 'locate' command.

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mlocate maintains a database of all your files and is re-indexed once a day by default. If you want it to re-index immediately then run sudo updatedb from the command line.

If you get a cannot stat error when you run locate, then you need to run sudo updatedb to populate the database, just as if you wanted to re-index immediately.

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From Ubuntu 22.04 onwards, mlocate is a transitional dummy package that installs plocate, so you can run sudo apt-get install plocate instead to install plocate directly.

Answer 2

sudo apt install plocate

Use this to install locate command in 22.04

plocate is better than mlocate