Is there an equivalent of the Unix whereis command in Windows?
So that I could figure out where commands I can run actually is.
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The where command does what you want and goes back at least to the resource kit for Windows 98, and is included by default in Server 2003, Vista, and newer:
C:\>where csc
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\csc.exe
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\csc.exe
If executed with no arguments (on Vista), it results in one of my favorite messages:
C:\>where
ERROR: The operation completed successfully.
If executing in PowerShell, be sure to include '.exe' to distinguish from any 'where' aliases or scripts along the path. ('where' is a typical alias for Where-Object.ps1)
C:\> where.exe where.exe
C:\Windows\System32\where.exe
32
You can run the following PowerShell command:
gcm <command>
The Get-Command cmdlet gets all commands that are installed on the computer, including cmdlets, aliases, functions, filters, scripts, and applications. Get-Command gets the commands from PowerShell modules and commands that were imported from other sessions. To get only commands that have been imported into the current session, use the ListImported parameter.
Ramhound
- 44,080
Jesus Iniesta
- 463
16
Please, use where command:
> where app.exe
It is the best way to achieve your goal.
You can also use PowerShell command:
> $env:path.Split(';') | gci -Filter app.exe
and expanded version looks like this:
> $env:path.Split(';') | select -Unique | ? {$_ -and (test-path $_)} | gci -Filter app.exe
Arek Bee
- 261
7
hackerish which.cmd:
@echo off
@set PATH=.;%PATH%
@rem
@rem about: something similar like the unix-alike-which, but with
@rem within pure cmd
@rem
if "%1" == "" (
@echo Usage:
@echo.
@echo which 'cmd'
@echo.
@echo.if 'cmd' is not found, ERRORLEVEL is set to 1
@echo.
) else (
( @for %%f in (%1 %1.exe %1.cmd %1.bat %1.pif) do if not "%%~$PATH:f" == "" ( @echo %%~$PATH:f ) else @set ERRORLEVEL=1)
)
akira
- 63,447
3
Using the where command on windows 10, in cmd, I used the following command to recursively search c drive for copies of the c# compiler, csc.exe.
c:\> where /r c:\ csc.exe
Sample:
Matt
- 444
Simon Hooper
- 131
3
Somewhere "out there" I found this batch file whereis.bat:
@for %%e in (%PATHEXT%) do @for %%i in (%1%%e) do @if NOT "%%~$PATH:i"=="" echo %%~$PATH:i
Update: maybe I found it here.
Craig McQueen
- 1,301
1
function find ($string) {
Get-ChildItem -Path 'c:\' -Recurse -Filter $string;
}
function whereis ($string) {
$superpath = "$env:Path;C:\Program Files;C:\Program Files (x86)";
(echo $superpath).Split(';') | Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter $string;
}
Example:
PS >find Mozilla.admx
Directory: C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 1/27/2016 12:22 PM 37146 Mozilla.admx
PS >whereis firefox.exe
Directory: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 9/21/2017 5:30 PM 477136 firefox.exe
Rupert
- 31
1
which.cmd
@echo off
if "%~1" equ "" (
echo usage: %~n0 [command] & exit /b 0
) else where $Path:%1 2>nul || (
echo | set /p x=%~n0: no '%1' in & path
)
doskey.exe
doskey which=where $1 2$Gnul
Usage:
> which.cmd git
C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe
> which.cmd foo
which: no 'foo' in PATH=C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Win
dows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
;C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7;
sionta
- 31
1
I was searching for this today and since I'm on XP without the resource kit, I turned to powershell with the following command:
dir -path c:\ -filter ffmpeg.* -r
KalenGi
- 147
