The Tips - Mac Kung Fu - page 372

3. In the list that appears, put a check next to System Files, and click the

OK button. Back in the Finder window, change the drop-down list next
to System Files Are Included.

4. Finally, type your search query into the Spotlight field at the top right of

the Finder window, and ensure This Mac is selected alongside the Search
heading. After a few seconds, you should start seeing the results, which
will include system files.

5. If you click the Save button, located just beneath the search field, you

can add the system file search to the sidebar of Finder, to be used again
(just select it each time and type the search query as described earlier).
Otherwise, you'll have to repeat these steps each time you want to search
for a system file.

Using the locate Command
As a version of Unix, OS X comes complete with the LOCATE command, which
can be used at the command line to track down any kind of file—a system
file or a user data file. LOCATE relies on a database of file locations and names
that are periodically and automatically updated (as such, unlike Spotlight,
LOCATE knows only the names of files and doesn't index their contents).

However, LOCATE isn't activated by default. You can do so by opening a Terminal
window (open Finder, select the Applications list, and then in the list of
applications double-click Terminal within the UTILITIES folder) and typing the
following, entering your login password when prompted:

SUDO LAUNCHCTL LOAD -W /SYSTEM/LIBRARY/LAUNCHDAEMONS/COM.APPLE.LOCATE.PLIST

This needs to be done only once.

To use LOCATE in the future, just specify the search query after typing LOCATE -I .
For example, to search for the location of the HOSTS file, you could type the
following:

LOCATE -I HOSTS

The -I flag tells LOCATE to ignore case sensitivity. Note that it will take some time
for the initial locate database to be created, in which case you'll see error
messages when you try to use the LOCATE command.

To deactivate LOCATE , type the following, which will deactivate the periodic
updating of the LOCATE database:

SUDO LAUNCHCTL UNLOAD -W /SYSTEM/LIBRARY/LAUNCHDAEMONS/COM.APPLE.LOCATE.PLIST