Find path to linux command

Get the Path of a Linux Command

Solution 2: You can use «locate» or «find» command on these modules to find where they are , for example Solution 3: Get the paths from the list of loaded modules. Solution 2: Like this: To see all of the commands that match in your path: Solution 3: is an environment variable, and can be displayed with the echo command: It’s a list of paths separated by the colon character ‘ ‘ The command tells you which file gets executed when you run a command: sometimes what you get is a path to a symlink; if you want to trace that link to where the actual executable lives, you can use and feed it the output of : The parameter instructs to keep following the symlink recursively.

Get the Path of a Linux Command

1. Overview

A Linux command that we type into a shell can be built-in, a function, an alias, or an external executable. We can find what it is and its path with several Linux utilities such as which , command , type , locate , whatis , and whereis .

In this article, we will explore the which , command , type , and whereis utilities as these are normally found in most Linux-based operating systems.

2. PATH Environment Variable

Before we jump to the explanation of the utilities, we need to know that the application, such as our shell, finds (and executes) the command from a list of directories that are stored in an environment variable called PATH . Each directory is separated with a colon character “:”.

We can show what is inside this variable by calling the echo command:

$ echo $PATH /home/baeldung/.cargo/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/snap/bin

This means that when we install a program or application on our system, to be able to call the executable from any directory from our shell, we need to ensure that the PATH variable has the path of the executable .

We can update the PATH variable temporarily by running this command:

$ export PATH=$PATH:/sampledir/path $ echo $PATH /home/baeldung/.cargo/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/snap/bin:/sampledir/path 

The PATH will be reset on reboot .

However, we can update the PATH variable permanently by updating the .bashrc file :

export PATH=$PATH:/sampledir/path

3. which Command

Most Linux-based operating systems have the which command installed. We can use this command to get the path of a Linux command:

$ which docker /usr/bin/docker

This shows that when we call the docker command, it will run the Docker executable file in the /usr/bin/ directory.

Moreover, the which command has a parameter -a which will print all matching path names:

$ which -a docker /usr/bin/docker /bin/docker

So we have two executable files in two different directories. The shell uses the one in the /usr/bin/ directory because the directory appears first in the PATH variable, and the file has the right permissions.

Otherwise, it will go to the next executable file in the /bin/ directory:

$ echo $PATH /home/tenzin/.cargo/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/snap/bin:/sampledir/path

4. command Command

The command command is another utility that we can use to find the path of a Linux command.

This utility tells us the difference between an executable ( docker ) or an alias ( ls ):

$ command -v docker /usr/bin/docker $ command -V docker docker is hashed (/usr/bin/docker)

We need to pass the -v or -V parameter:

$ command -v ls alias ls='ls --color=auto' $ command -V ls ls is aliased to `ls --color=auto'

Otherwise, it will run the Linux command that we supply :

$ command ls Android Downloads Pictures Templates AndroidStudioProjects file123.txt 'Screenshot from 2021-06-14 16-11-31.png' Videos . 

5. type Command

The type command can not only show the path of a Linux command, but it can also tell if the target is built-in, a function, an alias, or an external executable.

Let’s show the path of a Linux command:

Without the parameter, it will show the command definition:

$ type ls ls is aliased to `ls --color=auto'

If we use the -a parameter, it shows the command definition, executable type, and its path:

$ type -a ls ls is aliased to `ls --color=auto' ls is /usr/bin/ls ls is /bin/ls

We can also use type -t to display the executable type :

$ type -t which file $ type -t command builtin $ type -t type builtin $ type -t whereis file $ type -t ls alias $ type -t docker file 

6. whereis Command

Finally, let’s take a look at the whereis command. This command locates the path of the binary, source, and manual page of a given command.

If we call the utility directly, it shows all the locations of the binary, source, and manual page:

$ whereis docker docker: /usr/bin/docker /etc/docker /usr/libexec/docker /usr/share/man/man1/docker.1.gz

In addition, we can use -b parameter to show just the binary :

$ whereis -b docker docker: /usr/bin/docker /etc/docker /usr/libexec/docker

Moreover, if we want to show just the source (which does not exist on this system):

If we want to show just the manual:

$ whereis -m docker docker: /usr/share/man/man1/docker.1.gz

7. Conclusion

We can use the utilities – which , command , type , and whereis to find the path of a Linux command. Some utilities show more information than others.

As we have seen in this tutorial, there are a few caveats with some utilities, but simply put, we can use these four utilities to get more information about the Linux command we want to use.

How to find the installation path for a software under, The whereis command locates the binary, source, and manual-page files for a command, and the type command tells what exactly the shell executes when you run a certain command. Try whereis -l fluidplot in your case. If it only returns «fluidplot:», but no path, that means the software is not installed.

How to find Linux module path

in the linux, lsmod lists a lot of modules. but how can we find where those module loaded from. for some modules,linux command «modprobe -l» shows a path but some are not.
edited i also tried «find» and «locate». both of them lists all kind of versions

locate fake /svf/SVDrv/kernel/linux/.fake.ko.cmd /svf/SVDrv/kernel/linux/.fake.mod.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv/kernel/linux/.fake.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv/kernel/linux/fake.ko /svf/SVDrv/kernel/linux/fake.mod.o /svf/SVDrv/kernel/linux/fake.o /svf/SVDrv.03.11.2014.16.00/kernel/linux/.fake.ko.cmd /svf/SVDrv.03.11.2014.16.00/kernel/linux/.fake.mod.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.03.11.2014.16.00/kernel/linux/.fake.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.03.11.2014.16.00/kernel/linux/fake.ko /svf/SVDrv.03.11.2014.16.00/kernel/linux/fake.mod.o /svf/SVDrv.03.11.2014.16.00/kernel/linux/fake.o /svf/SVDrv.04.29.2014.17.39/kernel/linux/.fake.ko.cmd /svf/SVDrv.04.29.2014.17.39/kernel/linux/.fake.mod.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.04.29.2014.17.39/kernel/linux/.fake.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.04.29.2014.17.39/kernel/linux/fake.ko /svf/SVDrv.04.29.2014.17.39/kernel/linux/fake.mod.o /svf/SVDrv.04.29.2014.17.39/kernel/linux/fake.o /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.11.25/kernel/linux/.fake.ko.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.11.25/kernel/linux/.fake.mod.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.11.25/kernel/linux/.fake.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.11.25/kernel/linux/fake.ko /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.11.25/kernel/linux/fake.mod.o /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.11.25/kernel/linux/fake.o /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.17.43/kernel/linux/.fake.ko.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.17.43/kernel/linux/.fake.mod.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.17.43/kernel/linux/.fake.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.17.43/kernel/linux/fake.ko /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.17.43/kernel/linux/fake.mod.o /svf/SVDrv.05.05.2014.17.43/kernel/linux/fake.o /svf/SVDrv.05.07.2014.14.59/kernel/linux/.fake.ko.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.07.2014.14.59/kernel/linux/.fake.mod.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.07.2014.14.59/kernel/linux/.fake.o.cmd /svf/SVDrv.05.07.2014.14.59/kernel/linux/fake.ko /svf/SVDrv.05.07.2014.14.59/kernel/linux/fake.mod.o /svf/SVDrv.05.07.2014.14.59/kernel/linux/fake.o 

Sorry if the answer comes a bit late but I just stumbled across this particular question myself today.

To minimize manual labor here is my listing of the paths curretly loaded modules are loaded from:

awk ‘< print $1 >‘ /proc/modules | xargs modinfo -n | sort

I needed this to create a minimal kernel image containg only the modules i really need. Unfortunately lsmod only displays the name field which does not alwys match the modules# file name (e.g phy-am335x-control.ko and phy_am335x_control ). I hope this helps.

You can use «locate» or «find» command on these modules to find where they are , for example

[root@localhost core_src]# lsmod Module Size Used by iptable_filter 2793 0 ipt_MASQUERADE 2466 1 iptable_nat 6158 1 vmware_balloon 7199 0 i2c_piix4 12608 0 i2c_core 31276 1 i2c_piix4 shpchp 33482 0 ext4 371331 2 mbcache 8144 1 ext4 jbd2 93312 1 ext4 sd_mod 39488 4 crc_t10dif 1541 1 sd_mod sr_mod 16228 0 cdrom 39803 1 sr_mod mptspi 17051 3 mptscsih 36828 1 mptspi mptbase 94005 2 mptspi,mptscsih scsi_transport_spi 26151 1 mptspi pata_acpi 3701 0 ata_generic 3837 0 ata_piix 22846 0 dm_mirror 14101 0 dm_region_hash 12170 1 dm_mirror dm_log 10122 2 dm_mirror,dm_region_hash dm_mod 81692 2 dm_mirror,dm_log [root@localhost core_src]# locate vmware_balloon /lib/modules/2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64/kernel/drivers/misc/vmware_balloon.ko 

Get the paths from the list of loaded modules. Without the need for awk .

while IFS= read -r line; do modinfo -n "$" done < /proc/modules | sort 

Linux - Take the last part of the folder path in shell, In Linux, there are a pair of commands, dirname and basename. dirname extracts all but the last part of a path, and basename extracts just the last part of a path. You can use basename for that, provided the last part is indeed a directory component (not a file): To extract the last part of a path, try using …

How to get part of path using linux commands

Need get part of path, for example "/home/server/folder1/rev.1111/bin" Needed part is "rev.1111" I`ll try to parse by PWD & grep commands, but I am newbie on linux and I cant do this.

Using the basename & dirname commands:

Get the Full Path of a File in Linux, The find command searches for files in a directory hierarchy. We can use this command to print the absolute path of a file: $ cd /tmp/dir1/ $ find $PWD - type f -name file4.txt /tmp/dir1/dir2/dir3/dir4/file4.txt 7. Conclusion In this article, we discussed various practical examples to find the absolute path of a file.

How to find directory of some command?

I know that when you are on shell, the only commands that can be used are the ones that can be found on some directory set on PATH. Even I don't know how to see what dirs are on my PATH variable (and this is another good question that could be answered), what I'd like to know is:

I come to shell and write:

I want to know a command on shell that can tell me WHERE this command is located. In other words, where this "executable file" is located?

If you're using Bash or zsh, use this:

This will show whether the target is a builtin, a function, an alias or an external executable. If the latter, it will show each place it appears in your PATH .

bash$ type -a lshw lshw is /usr/bin/lshw bash$ type -a ls ls is aliased to `ls --color=auto' ls is /bin/ls bash$ zsh zsh% type -a which which is a shell builtin which is /usr/bin/which 

In Bash, for functions type -a will also display the function definition. You can use declare -f functionname to do the same thing (you have to use that for zsh, since type -a doesn't).

To see all of the commands that match in your path:

PATH is an environment variable, and can be displayed with the echo command:

It's a list of paths separated by the colon character ' : '

The which command tells you which file gets executed when you run a command:

sometimes what you get is a path to a symlink; if you want to trace that link to where the actual executable lives, you can use readlink and feed it the output of which :

The -f parameter instructs readlink to keep following the symlink recursively.

Here's an example from my machine:

$ which firefox /usr/bin/firefox $ readlink -f $(which firefox) /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.3/firefox.sh 

~$ echo $PATH /home/jack/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games ~$ whereis lshw lshw: /usr/bin/lshw /usr/share/man/man1/lshw.1.gz 

Find command in Linux with examples, How to find and delete a file with confirmation. $ find ./GFG -name sample.txt -exec rm -i <> \; When this command is entered, a prompt will come for confirmation, if you want to delete sample.txt or not. if you enter ‘Y/y’ it will delete the file. Output : 4. Search for empty files and directories. $ find ./GFG -empty.

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