Search files by name instantly

Question

Under Windows there is a smart software "Everything" listening to changes in NTFS that allows it to search files by names instantly - for a second or less.

Is there such ability for Ubuntu?

Answer 1

Ubuntu also has good old locate from command line.

locate reads one or more databases prepared by updatedb(8) and writes file names matching at least one of the PATTERNs to standard output, one per line.

updatedb

updatedb creates or updates a database used by locate(1). If the database already exists, its data is reused to avoid rereading directories that have not changed. updatedb is usually run daily by cron(8) to update the default database.

Example...

locate *.txt

results in

/boot/grub/gfxblacklist.txt
/discworld/.Trash-1000/files/Breaking Bad S04E10 Nl subs DutchReleaseTeam/DutchReleaseTeam NFO.txt
/discworld/.Trash-1000/files/Breaking Bad S04E10 Nl subs DutchReleaseTeam/Torrent downloaded from Demonoid.me.txt
/discworld/.Trash-1000/files/True Blood S04E12 HDTV.XviD (NL subs) DutchReleaseTeam/Dutch Release Team NFO Read Before Playing.txt
/discworld/.Trash-1000/files/True Blood S04E12 HDTV.XviD (NL subs) DutchReleaseTeam/Torrent_downloaded_from_Demonoid.me.txt
/etc/X11/rgb.txt

What it shows is shown instantly and you can search with a regex.

Answer 2

No, there isn't a tool like that. All search tools that I know of rely on their own databases and can't use the internal filesystem's index and journal data like Everything can.

That said, I think under normal circumstances "Linux" tools are more than sufficient. locate is able to index files on any filesystem (unlike Everything) and is very fast too. If you want to look for personal documents or launch programs, then launcher software like gnome-do or kupfer is more suitable for this task.

Answer 3

Yes, we have utilities like that. First, Nautilus (the file browser) enables you to quickly search through your files. For files you have used, you can press super+F to open the Files and Folders lense and type a file name. There are also file indexers like Tracker (which probably be accessible from the Files and Folders lense some time).

Answer 4

in command line I use locate as described by Rinzwind (1+), if you need some GUI interface I like google desktop.

Answer 5

I can't remember where I stole it but try this script:

    #!/bin/bash

t=$(mktemp)
locate "$1" | awk '{ printf "%4d\t\"%s\"\n",  NR, $0 }' > $t

[[ -s $t ]] || { echo "No results found"; exit; }

rows=$(wc -l "$t" | cut -d' ' -f1)

if [[ $rows == 1 ]]; then 
     file=$(sed 's/^.*\t"\(.*\)"$/\1/' $t)
    xdg-open "$file" &
else
    response=$(dialog --stdout --menu 'Choose a File:' 20 70 15 --file $t)
    if [[ -n "$response" ]]; then
        file=$(sed -n "/^\s*$response\t/{s/^.*\t\"\(.*\)\"$/\1/;p}" $t)
        if [[ -n $file ]]; then 
            echo "You chose $file"
            xdg-open "$file" &
        fi
    fi
fi

Copy and paste this script in a text file...

Once done make it executable (sudo chmod +x) and then put it in in /usr/local/bin or ~/bin

now, if your script name is search you have to digit

search nomefile

:)

Another promising tool:

http://www.lesbonscomptes.com/recoll/