Usage

xdg-desktop-search [ OPTIONS ] SEARCH ...

Arguments

• SEARCH: Search .desktop files with search directives containing this string. The searched directives are "Name" and "Exec" by default but can be overridden using the -s option (see below).

Options

• -h, --help: Print this message and exit.

• -v, --verbose: Print directives in found .desktop files.

• -d STRING, --show-directive STRING: Instead of printing all directives when searching in verbose mode, print only this directive (e.g. "Name"). Option can be repeated to print multiple directives.

• -s STRING, --search-directive STRING: Instead of searching directives "Name" and "Exec" for strings containing SEARCH, search the given directive instead (e.g. "Comment"). Option can be repeated to search in multiple directives.

Return Values

The command returns 0 if .desktop files were found that match the specified criteria, 1 on usage error and 2 if no matching .desktop files were found.

Example

Search for the string "firefox" in all .desktop files found in the path specified by XDG_DATA_DIRS. To match, the string "firefox" must be contained in either the "Exec" or the "Comment" directive. List the matching files, also show the "Exec" and "TryExec" directives in each found file.

xdg-desktop-search -s Exec -s Comment -v -d Exec -d TryExec firefox