NAME

       which - shows the full path of (shell) commands.

SYNOPSIS

       which [options] [--] programname [...]

DESCRIPTION

       Which takes one or more arguments. For each of its arguments it prints to stdout the full path of the
       executables that would have been executed when this argument had been entered at the shell prompt. It
       does this by searching for an executable or script in the directories listed in the environment variable
       PATH using the same algorithm as bash(1).

       This man page is generated from the file which.texinfo.

OPTIONS

       --all, -a
           Print all matching executables in PATH, not just the first.

       --read-alias, -i
           Read  aliases from stdin, reporting matching ones on stdout. This is useful in combination with using
           an alias for which itself. For example
           alias which=´alias | which -i´.

       --skip-alias
           Ignore option `--read-alias´, if any. This is useful to explicity search for normal  binaries,  while
           using the `--read-alias´ option in an alias or function for which.

       --read-functions
           Read  shell  function  definitions  from  stdin, reporting matching ones on stdout. This is useful in
           combination with using a shell function for which itself.  For example:
           which() { declare -f | which --read-functions $@ }
           export -f which

       --skip-functions
           Ignore option `--read-functions´, if any. This is useful to explicity  search  for  normal  binaries,
           while using the `--read-functions´ option in an alias or function for which.

       --skip-dot
           Skip directories in PATH that start with a dot.

       --skip-tilde
           Skip directories in PATH that start with a tilde and executables which reside in the HOME directory.

       --show-dot
           If  a  directory  in  PATH  starts with a dot and a matching executable was found for that path, then
           print "./programname" rather than the full path.

       --show-tilde
           Output a tilde when a directory matches the HOME directory. This option  is  ignored  when  which  is
           invoked as root.

       --tty-only
           Stop processing options on the right if not on tty.

       --version,-v,-V
           Print version information on standard output then exit successfully.

       --help
           Print usage information on standard output then exit successfully.

RETURN VALUE

       Which returns the number of failed arguments, or -1 when no `programname´ was given.

EXAMPLE

       The  recommended way to use this utility is by adding an alias (C shell) or shell function (Bourne shell)
       for which like the following:

       [ba]sh:

            which ()
            {
              (alias; declare -f) | /usr/bin/which --tty-only --read-alias --read-functions --show-tilde --show-dot $@
            }
            export -f which

       [t]csh:

            alias which ´alias | /usr/bin/which --tty-only --read-alias --show-dot --show-tilde´

       This will print the readable ~/ and ./ when starting which from your prompt,  while  still  printing  the
       full path when used from a script:

            > which q2
            ~/bin/q2
            > echo `which q2`
            /home/carlo/bin/q2

BUGS

       The  HOME  directory  is  determined by looking for the HOME environment variable, which aborts when this
       variable doesn´t exist.  Which will consider two equivalent directories to be different when one of  them
       contains a path with a symbolic link.

AUTHOR

       Carlo Wood <carlo@gnu.org>

SEE ALSO

       bash(1)

                                                                                                        WHICH(1)