FSearch: a great utility to find files quickly in Linux

search

On Linux, many file managers have a built-in search function. They get the job done, for the most part. However, the search speed through the file manager is not always as desired, so we can choose an application totally dedicated to it.

FSearch is a free and open source file search utility released under the GNU GPL v2 license. This application is quite fast and can be used on GNU / Linux systems, it is written in C and based on GTK + 3.

This application allows users to create and maintain their own file database and find files on Linux more efficiently.

During the first execution performs the indexing of files and directories, the search is performed in real time, search queries are processed and displayed immediately as you type letters and characters.

The search results appear in a list can be ordered by multiple parameters, search files or directories, can also be opened in the application by "default" or in the file manager, you can copy the path of the file or directory in the clipboard.

FSearch is a standalone application and does not require the presence of a specific file manager or your work environment. It is supported by searching for "regular expressions" based on the use of the PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expression) library.

Between Its main characteristics can be highlighted:

  • Instant search while typing
  • Regular expression support.
  • Filter support (only search for files, folders or all).
  • Include and exclude specific folders to be indexed.
  • Quick sort by filename, path, size or modified date.
  • Customizable interface.
  • Independent desk.
  • Minimal dependencies.
  • Small memory usage (both hard drive and RAM).
  • UTF8 support.
  • Keyboard shortcuts are available.

How to install Fsearch on Linux?

In order to install this tool on their systems, they must follow one of the following steps to install it according to the Linux distribution they are using.

In the case of those who are users of Ubuntu, Linux Mint or any distribution derived from these. We must add a repository to the system, for this we are going to open a terminal with Ctrl + Alt + T and execute in it:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:christian-boxdoerfer/fsearch-daily
sudo apt-get update

E we install the application with:

sudo apt install fsearch

For In the case of Debian users or systems based on this, we can compile the application on the system by typing the following commands:

sudo apt-get install git build-essential automake autoconf libtool pkg-config intltool autoconf-archive libpcre3-dev libglib2.0-dev libgtk-3-dev libxml2-utils

We download the source code and compile with:

git clone https://github.com/cboxdoerfer/fsearch.git
cd fsearch
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install

While for those who are users of Arch Linux, Manjaro, Antergos or any distribution derived from Arch Linux we install from the AUR repositories with:

aurman -S fsearch-git

Si are users of Fedora or any derivative of this distribution in the same way we can compile, we only have to install some dependencies with:

sudo dnf install automake autoconf intltool libtool autoconf-archive pkgconfig glib2-devel gtk3-devel git

We download and compile with:

git clone https://github.com/cboxdoerfer/fsearch.git
cd fsearch
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install

Finally, for those who are openSUSE users can install from OpenSUSE build service with just one click, from the following link.

Setting up Fsearch

After having installed the application on the system, it is necessary to build a database. To build this database, they must open the program and click on "Edit". In the "Edit" menu, select the "Preferences" button to open the application settings area.

Within configuration parameters, click the tab "database". Check the box "update database on boot" to automatically update the database.

Then go and select "Add" to add a new location for the application.

In the file explorer, add / home / as this is the main directory that contains the files.

Click "File," then "Update Database" to finish the setup process.

And that's it, they can start using the application to search for files.


3 comments, leave yours

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  1.   Myself said

    Very interesting, another great program is Kfind, which you can also search by the content of the files, dates, etc. Thank you.

  2.   Roberto Flores said

    installs with:

    sudo apt install fsearch-trunk

  3.   Deric said

    Very good application ...
    A query ... How do you make fsearch show files that are more than 2gb in size ... In my case, it omits it ...