locate command and Finder do not find many files

Well that sounds just terrible. There is no way to update the locate db except to just wait for it to update at random?

For some reason mdfind (/usr/bin/mdfind) is not in my path. If I type the full path to /usr/bin/mdfind it works great. Shouldn't this be in my path? Can I fix that?

Any idea why the search function in Finder doesn't work properly?

I can't believe Big Sur requires users to learn a new method to do something as elementary as "find a file".

Thanks. I guess I forgot changing to a default of zsh.

"# set path for python 3.7
PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH"

I had this in .bash_profile - do you know how to adapt it to have that too. Is it this or something else?

export PATH=".:$HOME:/usr/local/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/bin:$PATH

I understand what you're saying there about the finder preferences but what about when I want to search "This Mac" or "Macintosh HD" for a file that I don't know the location of? I find that if it's located in ~/Library (or a subdirectory of Library) it won't find it if I search "Macintosh HD" or "This Mac", it only finds it if I search Library. I don't know how many other folders (if any) that might be the case for. I often need to find a file I don't know the location of. I use a lot of different software on a lot of different operating systems and I am always looking for "where does Mac store that file" - often times a configuration which is often in ~/Library, but not always. Is there any way to actually search my whole Mac for a file I don't know the location of besides mdfind? Is finder just useless for this now? And if so why do they gave you an option "Search This Mac" or "Search Macintosh HD" when they know full well they are not actually going to search the whole thing, this is super misleading and frustrating. I just discovered this today because I was searching for one of those configuration files I know must exist but not where. I might have never figured this out except for dumb luck trial and error.

Also just noticed mdfind will not find files that start with . - is that a known thing too?

So should my .zshrc look like this?

export PATH=".:$HOME:/usr/local/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/bin:$PATH
PS1="%m %~ %% "
# enable vi/vim keystrokes for inline editing of Terminal commands 
bindkey -v

What is the PS1="%m %~ %% " for?

My output from:

ls /usr/local/bin/*3

is:

/usr/local/bin/2to3	/usr/local/bin/pip3	/usr/local/bin/python3
/usr/local/bin/idle3	/usr/local/bin/pydoc3	/usr/local/bin/wheel3

I am not sure what you mean by this:

VikingOSX wrote:

I think if you are looking for a file in your ~/Library, that you may be more successful using just the filename in Spotlight, rather than name:filename. Spotlight would not find that Firefox installs.ini file until I just specified the filename without any keyword.

I should get different results if I search like this:

As opposed to if I search it like this:

Whether I select the suggestion of "Name matches:" or ignore that and just type the file name nothing is found in finder if I select "This Mac" or "Macintosh HD" unless I specifically select Library which makes no sense to me. Why does it say it's searching the whole hard drive or the whole make if it doesn't? What other folders does it exclude without telling me or me asking it to exclude besides Library, if any?

There are lots of reasons I don't want to use spotlight search but mainly when I'm doing these types of searches I want to see the file size, date, location, right click it, etc. and I can't do any of that in the list I get from spotlight.

I also noticed that spotlight wants to open this with Brave when the file association I have for .ini says it should be opened with a text editor. Why does it do that? Is there any fix?

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for clarifying.

There is actually no Brave installs.ini. There are only two:

/Users/user/Library/Thunderbird/installs.ini

/Users/user/Library/Application Support/Firefox/installs.ini

When I find them in finder and do as you said they are already associated as they should be. Just to be safe I associated them to something else and then associated them back and did "Change All"

It still shows as Brave in spotlight:

Also unclear why Spotlight only finds one of the two files. It's not like that with other files.

Is there any known answer as to why Finder won't find files in ~/Library when "This Mac" or "Macintosh HD" is selected and/or what folders (if any) are also excluded unless they are specifically selected? Any fix?

It seems like spotlight associates Brave with all kinds of file types that are actually associated to multiple other programs. Related question: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252224212

I found that if I go to my home directory, then View > Show View Options then check "Show Library Folder" then open the Library folder in finder and search, I can find files that are in Library and subdirectories of it. But if I go back and search "Macintosh HD", "This Mac", even my home folder (of which Library is a subdirectory) it doesn't find any of those files. Is this another Big Sur bug like the inability to snooze your calendar notifications? This is really awful. Why can't I do a basic thing like search for files and why is the locate command suddenly totally broken?