updatedb
updatedb is a Linux command in the Search & Find category, rated intermediate difficulty. Updates the database used by locate. Run as root periodically. The syntax is updatedb [options]. It returns none (database updated). A practical example: sudo updatedb updatedb -l 0 -U /home # Only index /home updatedb -e /media # Exclude /media A close relative is find, which searches for files and directories in a directory hierarchy. A close relative is locate, which finds files by name using a prebuilt database. Faster than find. A close relative is which, which shows the full path of a command executable. More about this category: Linux search commands — find, locate, which, whereis, and more. Find files and commands on the system. Related Search & Find commands: find, locate, which, whereis, type, grep -r, ack, rg. This page is part of the free Linux Reference documentation covering 304+ commands, each with syntax, options, practical examples, and a difficulty rating.