locate and spotlight

locate and spotlight each have their pros and cons. I like both for different reasons, but recently I caught on to using mdfind (spotlight's command-line interface) to search for file-names only. It is still a little slower than locate (but not much) but always up to date:

(defun locate-make-mdfind-command-line (search-string)
  (list "mdfind" (concat "kMDItemDisplayName=*" search-string "*")))

(defun spotlight ()
  "Search for files by name using spotlight"
  (interactive)
  (let ((locate-command "mdfind")
        (locate-make-command-line 'locate-make-mdfind-command-line))
    (call-interactively 'locate nil)))

(defun spotlight-full ()
  "Search using spotlight"
  (interactive)
  (let ((locate-command "mdfind"))
    (call-interactively 'locate nil)))

If you're feeling adventurous, keep the first defun and set locate-command and locate-make-command-line via customize. I did that for a few weeks but I like the flexibility of having both available.