FSearch, a tool for quick searches in Ubuntu

In the next article we are going to take a look at FSearch. This is one performance-focused search utility. It is open source and is intended for GNU / Linux and Unix-like operating systems. It is inspired by Everything Search Engine, so it instantly locates files and folders by name. Being written in C and based on GTK + 3, it has amazing response speeds. A feature that when you handle large amounts of files, is highly valued.

It has a graphical user interface Modern and customizable (GUI). It includes a toolbar and a responsive and thematic application window. It can suggest files to us from any location as we type letters in the search field.

The results of our search appear in list form. We will be able to sort these results by filename, path, size or modification date. Once the file that interests us is located, we can decide open the file using some application or the file manager. We will also be able to copy the path of the file (or directory) to our clipboard.

If you want to take searching to the next level, you can do it using regular expressions, thanks to the library's FSearch support PCRE (Perl-Compatible Regular Expression).

FSearch general features

• It's a free program for use on Gnu / Linux and Unix platforms.
• Open Source. Its source code is available at GitHub.
• It gives users a Customizable GUI and quite simple to use. It is customizable using a dark theme. It is able to remember the size of the window or the configuration of the columns when classifying by name, size, path or modification date.
• The result is displayed instantly, as we type what we want to search for.
• We will be able use filters with which to search for files, folders or everything. We will also be able to include and exclude specific folders for indexing. At the same time we will have the possibility to exclude certain files / folders from the index using wildcard expressions.
• We will also find the possibility of order quickly by filename, path, size, or modified date.
• We will find the option 'Open with ...' in the contextual menu.
• The program us will show a progress for the update process from the database.
• Admits keyboard shortcuts that will allow us to save a lot of time when using the program.
• Su dependency usage is minimal.
• Memory usage is small, both on hard disk and RAM.

It can talk to us about this program and its features in your web page.

Install FSearch

In order to install this program in our operating system, Ubuntu 18.04 in this example, we will have to add your repository to our list. Then we will only have to update the list of available software and install the program. To do all this, we open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write in it:

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

sudo apt update && sudo apt install fsearch-trunk

After installation, we can now search for the program on our system. Just click on the launcher and it will start.

Setting up FSearch

After finishing the installation of the application on the system, you need to update your database to be able to function. To get it ready, we will have to open the program and click on "Edit".

Inside the menu "Edit”, We will select the button“Preferences" for open the application settings area. Within the configuration parameters, we are going to go to the tab "Confidential Information”. Here we will mark the checkbox "Update database at startup”To automatically update the database.

We continue selecting "Add" for include a new location in the app. In the file explorer, we can add / home or the path that we want where the files that we want to have available are located.

After this, the database should update itself, but if not, we can click on “Archive"And then in"Update database”. With this we end the configuration process.

At this point, we can start searching our files.

Uninstall FSearch

Eliminate this program from our Ubuntu, it will be as simple as installing it. We will start deleting your repository of our system. In a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) we write:

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

After this we can delete the program. In the same terminal we will only have to write:

sudo apt remove fsearch-trunk

In short, if you are looking for a reliable and fast search tool, FSearch is among the best options available that you will be able to find.