Locator - A super fast GUI-based file finder
Jan 27, '03 09:58:43AM
Contributed by: robg
The macosxhints Rating:

[0 to 10 lights; 10 = perfect!]
Locator is a GUI front-end to the UNIX 'locate' command, which helps you find files on your system. Why would you want to use Locator (or even 'locate') when Apple includes Command-F for find? One reason - speed. The locate command creates a database of everything on your hard drive, meaning that searches are nearly instantaneous. For example, a Locator search on ".mov" in my /Volumes directory (basically all mounted drives) found 800 results in a second or two. Try that same command using Command-F and you'll wait quite a while before getting the results (it was working on it for a couple of minutes while I did other stuff, and only had found a couple hundred before I stopped it).
Locator puts a very easy to use interface on top of the 'locate' command. Instead of having to open a terminal and type "locate" followed by a string of commands to help narrow and sort the search results, just launch Locator. You can drag in volumes, run grep searches, do "contains," "begins with, "ends with," and "is" style searches, search again within the results, and much more. As it's a full-blown Cocoa app, there's even a nice customizable toolbar. About the only thing that command-F has going for it above Locator is the ability to specify selected drives for the search locations; Locator seems to work on all or one, but not selected, volumes (someone please correct me if I'm wrong!).
The only real downside to locate is also the fact that it uses a database. If you create a new file and then use locate immediately, you won't find the new file in the locate results as the database is only updated at certain intervals. But this is another area where Locator shines. When you launch it, it checks how recently the database has been updated and asks if you'd like to update it now (there's also a menu item to update the database whenever you like).
I've been using Locator for a long time, and just had never thought to make it a PotW, until someone submitted a recommendation for it via the hint submittal form ... and then I realized just how often I use it (I almost never use Command-F). Locator is an essential piece of sofwtare on my machines ... the fact that it's freeware is an amazing added bonus.
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