which Command: Tutorial & Examples

Display the path of a command

The which command in Linux is a command-line utility that is used to locate the executable file associated with a given command. The basic syntax for the command is which [command].

When you run the which command followed by a command name, it will search through the directories specified in the PATH environment variable for an executable file with the same name as the command and will print the path of the executable file if it is found.

For example, if you run the command which ls, it will return the location of the executable file for the ls command, for example /bin/ls.

The which command is useful when you want to find the location of an executable file for a command, or if you have multiple versions of a command installed and you want to know which version will be executed when you run the command. It will also tell you when you have defined an alias that matches your search.

It is important to note that the which command only searches through the directories specified in the PATH environment variable, so it may not find an executable file for a command if it is located in a non-standard directory or if the command is not installed on the system.