How to search directory for specific files?

What is the fastest method to search for files in the Linux directory tree?

• Answer:

  I use the locate command. Locate just queries a database and prints out the location of the file as it is in the database. The only drawback is that you have to index your files regularly if your directories and files change to keep the database up to date. updatedb -->Indexes files. (you can do this in a cron job if you don't want to do it manually) locate filename -->prints the location of the file filename.