Introduction
The Linux whereis
command locates the binary, source, and manual page files for a command. The whereis
utility provides a concise way to gather information about a target command and allows users to analyze the file structure of a Linux system
This article will teach you about Linux whereis
command through its use case examples.
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โPrerequisites
- Linux system (this tutorial uses Ubuntu 22.04).
- Access to the terminal.
Linux whereis Command Syntax
The whereis
command syntax is:
whereis [options] [command_name]
Running the command without any options or [command_name]
in Ubuntu results in an error message:
whereis
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However, in other Linux distributions, doing the same could produce general output about commonly used commands. The output depends on the system.
Linux whereis Command Options
Theโ options customize whereis
, producing specifically tailored output. The common arguments are:
Option | Description |
---|---|
-b | Prints only executables. |
-B | Prints executable within a specific directory. |
-m | Displays only manual pages. |
-M | Displays manual pages but within a particular directory. |
-s | Shows only source files. |
-S | Shows only source files but within a specified directory. |
-u | Searches for unusual entries. |
-l | Lists specified file's components. |
-f | Terminates the last component in the file path. It is always used with -B , -M , or -S . |
-h | Displays help information. |
-V | Prints version info. |
whereis Command in Linux: Examples
The whereis
command works with different options and has many use-case examples. The following texts elaborates on the most important examples.
Example 1: Find Command Location
To locate a command, run whereis
with the target command name. For instance, find the ls command location with the following:
whereis ls
The output indicates where the ls
executable file is and shows the man page location.
Example 2: Locate Multiple Commands
To find more than one command, type whereis
and each [command_name]
separated by a space. For instance, find the locations for ls
, cat, and whoami with:
whereis ls cat whoami
Example 3: Identify whereis Target Locations
By default, whereis
looks for a command's files in pre-defined paths and directories specified in the environment variables.
To identify the searched directories, use the -l
option.
For example:
whereis -l
This output shows the specific directories that whereis
examines while searching command-related files.
Example 4: Locate the Command Binary
To find only the command's executable (binary) file, run whereis
with -b
:
whereis -b [command_name]
For example, find the ls
binary file:
whereis -b ls
โUnlike the previous example, the output prints only the path to the executable and excludes the manual page.
Example 5: Find Binary in a Specific Location
To pinpoint command executables exclusively within particular directories, use the -B
and -f
options. The -B
argument designates a specific directory, while the -f
option, always paired with -B
, specifies that the subsequent term in the command is the target command.
The syntax is:
whereis -b -B [directory_name] -f [command_name]
For example, locate ls
binaries within the /bin directory with the following:
whereis -b -B /bin -f ls
Example 6: Locate the Man Page
If the goal is only to show the manual page location, run the command with -m
.
whereis -m [command_name]
For instance:
whereis -m ls
The output shows only the ls
manual page location.
Example 7: Find Unusual Entries
To search for unusual entries that deviate from the standard or expected location, use the -u
argument. For example, find all unusual entries in the current directory with:
whereis -s *
Conclusion
After reading this article, you should know how to use the whereis
command and its options by following use-case examples.
Next, read about other important commands in this Linux commands cheat sheet.