How to Use which and whereis Commands

In Linux, knowing where your executables and their associated documentation are located can streamline your command-line experience. The which and whereis commands are used to find out where binaries and resources are stored on your system. This tutorial will guide you through using these two commands effectively.

1. Using the which Command

The which command helps you identify the location of executables in your system’s PATH. For example, to find out where the python3 executable is located, run:

which python3

This command will return the path of the python3 binary:

/usr/bin/python3

1.1. Multiple Executables

If you want to check multiple executables at once, you can provide a list:

which python3 node git

This will display the path of all specified binaries, if available.

2. Using the whereis Command

The whereis command provides more comprehensive information than which by finding the binary, source, and manual page files for a given command:

whereis python3

The output will typically look like this:

python3: /usr/bin/python3 /etc/python3 /usr/share/man/man1/python3.1.gz

This shows the paths to the binary, configuration files, and the manual page.

2.1. Finding Documentation

Using whereis can help quickly locate documentation for many commands. For example:

whereis ls

This might return something like:

ls: /bin/ls /usr/share/man/man1/ls.1.gz

Here you see the location of the binary and its manual page.

3. Conclusion

By following this tutorial, you have learned to effectively use the which and whereis commands in Linux to locate executables and their associated documentation. These commands are invaluable for navigating the command line and managing your environment. Continue exploring other command-line tools to enhance your productivity and efficiency!

About the Author

Dorian Kane

Author

View All Posts