As I sometimes have path problems, where one of my own cmd scripts is hidden (shadowed) by another program (earlier on the path), I would like to be able to find the full path to a program on the Windows command line, given just its name.
Is there an equivalent to the UNIX command 'which'?
On UNIX, which command prints the full path of the given command to easily find and repair these shadowing problems.
This question is related to
windows
command-line
path-variables
The answer is
This batch file uses CMD variable handling to find the command that would be executed in the path. Note: that the current directory is always done before the path) and depending on which API call is used other locations are searched before/after the path.
@echo off
echo.
echo PathFind - Finds the first file in in a path
echo ======== = ===== === ===== ==== == == = ====
echo.
echo Searching for %1 in %path%
echo.
set a=%~$PATH:1
If "%a%"=="" (Echo %1 not found) else (echo %1 found at %a%)
See set /? for help.
Go get unxutils from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils/
gold on windows platforms, puts all the nice unix utilities on a standard windows DOS. Been using it for years.
It has a 'which' included. Note that it's case sensitive though.
NB: to install it explode the zip somewhere and add ...\UnxUtils\usr\local\wbin\ to your system path env variable.
If you have PowerShell installed (which I recommend), you can use the following command as a rough equivalent (substitute programName for your executable's name):
($Env:Path).Split(";") | Get-ChildItem -filter programName*
More is here: My Manwich! PowerShell Which
I have used the which module from npm for quite a while, and it works very well: https://www.npmjs.com/package/which
It is a great multi platform alternative.
Now I switched to the which that comes with Git. Just add to your path the /usr/bin path from Git, which is usually at C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\which.exe. The which binary will be at C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\which.exe. It is faster and also works as expected.
Cygwin is a solution. If you don't mind using a third-party solution, then Cygwin is the way to go.
Cygwin gives you the comfort of *nix in the Windows environment (and you can use it in your Windows command shell, or use a *nix shell of your choice). It gives you a whole host of *nix commands (like which) for Windows, and you can just include that directory in your PATH.
The best version of this I've found on Windows is Joseph Newcomer's "whereis" utility, which is available (with source) from his site.
The article about the development of "whereis" is worth reading.
I am using GOW (GNU on Windows) which is a light version of Cygwin. You can grab it from GitHub here.
GOW (GNU on Windows) is the lightweight alternative to Cygwin. It uses a convenient Windows installer that installs about 130 extremely useful open source UNIX applications compiled as native win32 binaries. It is designed to be as small as possible, about 10 MB, as opposed to Cygwin which can run well over 100 MB depending upon options. - About Description(Brent R. Matzelle)
A screenshot of a list of commands included in GOW:
While later versions of Windows have a where command, you can also do this with Windows XP by using the environment variable modifiers, as follows:
c:\> for %i in (cmd.exe) do @echo. %~$PATH:i
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe
c:\> for %i in (python.exe) do @echo. %~$PATH:i
C:\Python25\python.exe
You don't need any extra tools and it's not limited to PATH since you can substitute any environment variable (in the path format, of course) that you wish to use.
And, if you want one that can handle all the extensions in PATHEXT (as Windows itself does), this one does the trick:
@echo off
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
:: Needs an argument.
if "x%1"=="x" (
echo Usage: which ^<progName^>
goto :end
)
:: First try the unadorned filenmame.
set fullspec=
call :find_it %1
:: Then try all adorned filenames in order.
set mypathext=!pathext!
:loop1
:: Stop if found or out of extensions.
if "x!mypathext!"=="x" goto :loop1end
:: Get the next extension and try it.
for /f "delims=;" %%j in ("!mypathext!") do set myext=%%j
call :find_it %1!myext!
:: Remove the extension (not overly efficient but it works).
:loop2
if not "x!myext!"=="x" (
set myext=!myext:~1!
set mypathext=!mypathext:~1!
goto :loop2
)
if not "x!mypathext!"=="x" set mypathext=!mypathext:~1!
goto :loop1
:loop1end
:end
endlocal
goto :eof
:: Function to find and print a file in the path.
:find_it
for %%i in (%1) do set fullspec=%%~$PATH:i
if not "x!fullspec!"=="x" @echo. !fullspec!
goto :eof
It actually returns all possibilities but you can tweak it quite easily for specific search rules.
Not in stock Windows but it is provided by Services for Unix and there are several simple batch scripts floating around that accomplish the same thing such this this one.
The best version of this I've found on Windows is Joseph Newcomer's "whereis" utility, which is available (with source) from his site.
The article about the development of "whereis" is worth reading.
I have used the which module from npm for quite a while, and it works very well: https://www.npmjs.com/package/which
It is a great multi platform alternative.
Now I switched to the which that comes with Git. Just add to your path the /usr/bin path from Git, which is usually at C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\which.exe. The which binary will be at C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\which.exe. It is faster and also works as expected.
The GnuWin32 tools have which, along with a whole slew of other Unix tools.
If you have PowerShell installed (which I recommend), you can use the following command as a rough equivalent (substitute programName for your executable's name):
($Env:Path).Split(";") | Get-ChildItem -filter programName*
More is here: My Manwich! PowerShell Which
In Windows CMD which calls where:
$ where php
C:\Program Files\PHP\php.exe
I have a function in my PowerShell profile named 'which'
function which {
get-command $args[0]| format-list
}
Here's what the output looks like:
PS C:\Users\fez> which python
Name : python.exe
CommandType : Application
Definition : C:\Python27\python.exe
Extension : .exe
Path : C:\Python27\python.exe
FileVersionInfo : File: C:\Python27\python.exe
InternalName:
OriginalFilename:
FileVersion:
FileDescription:
Product:
ProductVersion:
Debug: False
Patched: False
PreRelease: False
PrivateBuild: False
SpecialBuild: False
Language:
In PowerShell, it is gcm, which gives formatted information about other commands. If you want to retrieve only path to executable, use .Source.
For instance: gcm git or (gcm git).Source
Tidbits:
- Available for Windows XP.
- Available since PowerShell 1.0.
gcmis an alias ofGet-Commandcmdlet.- Without any parameters, it lists down all the available commands offered by the host shell.
- You can create a custom alias with
Set-Alias which gcmand use it like:(which git).Source. - Official docs: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee176842.aspx
Not in stock Windows but it is provided by Services for Unix and there are several simple batch scripts floating around that accomplish the same thing such this this one.
This batch file uses CMD variable handling to find the command that would be executed in the path. Note: that the current directory is always done before the path) and depending on which API call is used other locations are searched before/after the path.
@echo off
echo.
echo PathFind - Finds the first file in in a path
echo ======== = ===== === ===== ==== == == = ====
echo.
echo Searching for %1 in %path%
echo.
set a=%~$PATH:1
If "%a%"=="" (Echo %1 not found) else (echo %1 found at %a%)
See set /? for help.
Here is a function which I made to find executable similar to the Unix command 'WHICH`
app_path_func.cmd:
@ECHO OFF
CLS
FOR /F "skip=2 tokens=1,2* USEBACKQ" %%N IN (`reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\%~1" /t REG_SZ /v "Path"`) DO (
IF /I "%%N" == "Path" (
SET wherepath=%%P%~1
GoTo Found
)
)
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`where.exe %~1`) DO (
SET wherepath=%%F
GoTo Found
)
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`where.exe /R "%PROGRAMFILES%" %~1`) DO (
SET wherepath=%%F
GoTo Found
)
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`where.exe /R "%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%" %~1`) DO (
SET wherepath=%%F
GoTo Found
)
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`where.exe /R "%WINDIR%" %~1`) DO (
SET wherepath=%%F
GoTo Found
)
:Found
SET %2=%wherepath%
:End
Test:
@ECHO OFF
CLS
CALL "app_path_func.cmd" WINWORD.EXE PROGPATH
ECHO %PROGPATH%
PAUSE
Result:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\
Press any key to continue . . .
For you Windows XP users (who have no where command built-in), I have written a "where like" command as a rubygem called whichr.
To install it, install Ruby.
Then
gem install whichr
Run it like:
C:> whichr cmd_here
TCC and TCC/LE from JPSoft are CMD.EXE replacements that add significant functionality. Relevant to the OP's question, which is a builtin command for TCC family command processors.
The best version of this I've found on Windows is Joseph Newcomer's "whereis" utility, which is available (with source) from his site.
The article about the development of "whereis" is worth reading.
Here is a function which I made to find executable similar to the Unix command 'WHICH`
app_path_func.cmd:
@ECHO OFF
CLS
FOR /F "skip=2 tokens=1,2* USEBACKQ" %%N IN (`reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\%~1" /t REG_SZ /v "Path"`) DO (
IF /I "%%N" == "Path" (
SET wherepath=%%P%~1
GoTo Found
)
)
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`where.exe %~1`) DO (
SET wherepath=%%F
GoTo Found
)
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`where.exe /R "%PROGRAMFILES%" %~1`) DO (
SET wherepath=%%F
GoTo Found
)
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`where.exe /R "%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%" %~1`) DO (
SET wherepath=%%F
GoTo Found
)
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`where.exe /R "%WINDIR%" %~1`) DO (
SET wherepath=%%F
GoTo Found
)
:Found
SET %2=%wherepath%
:End
Test:
@ECHO OFF
CLS
CALL "app_path_func.cmd" WINWORD.EXE PROGPATH
ECHO %PROGPATH%
PAUSE
Result:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\
Press any key to continue . . .
In Windows PowerShell:
set-alias which where.exe
None of the Win32 ports of Unix which that I could find on the Internet are satistactory, because they all have one or more of these shortcomings:
- No support for Windows PATHEXT variable. (Which defines the list of extensions implicitely added to each command before scanning the path, and in which order.) (I use a lot of tcl scripts, and no publicly available which tool could find them.)
- No support for cmd.exe code pages, which makes them display paths with non-ascii characters incorrectly. (I'm very sensitive to that, with the ç in my first name :-))
- No support for the distinct search rules in cmd.exe and the PowerShell command line. (No publicly available tool will find .ps1 scripts in a PowerShell window, but not in a cmd window!)
So I eventually wrote my own which, that suports all the above correctly.
Available there: http://jf.larvoire.free.fr/progs/which.exe
I have created tool similar to Ned Batchelder:
Searching .dll and .exe files in PATH
While my tool is primarly for searching of various dll versions it shows more info (date, size, version) but it do not use PATHEXT (I hope to update my tool soon).
The GnuWin32 tools have which, along with a whole slew of other Unix tools.
try this
set a=%~$dir:1
If "%for%"=="" (Echo %1 not found) else (echo %1 found at %a%)
Under PowerShell, Get-Command will find executables anywhere in $Env:PATH.
Get-Command eventvwr
CommandType Name Definition
----------- ---- ----------
Application eventvwr.exe c:\windows\system32\eventvwr.exe
Application eventvwr.msc c:\windows\system32\eventvwr.msc
It also finds PowerShell cmdlets, functions, aliases, files with custom executables extensions via $Env:PATHEXT, etc. defined for the current shell (quite akin to Bash's type -a foo) - making it a better go-to than other tools like where.exe, which.exe, etc which are unaware of these PowerShell commands.
Finding executables using only part of the name
gcm *disk*
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
Alias Disable-PhysicalDiskIndication 2.0.0.0 Storage
Alias Enable-PhysicalDiskIndication 2.0.0.0 Storage
Function Add-PhysicalDisk 2.0.0.0 Storage
Function Add-VirtualDiskToMaskingSet 2.0.0.0 Storage
Function Clear-Disk 2.0.0.0 Storage
Cmdlet Get-PmemDisk 1.0.0.0 PersistentMemory
Cmdlet New-PmemDisk 1.0.0.0 PersistentMemory
Cmdlet Remove-PmemDisk 1.0.0.0 PersistentMemory
Application diskmgmt.msc 0.0.0.0 C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskmgmt.msc
Application diskpart.exe 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskpart.exe
Application diskperf.exe 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskperf.exe
Application diskraid.exe 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskraid.exe
...
Finding custom executables
To find other non-windows executables (python, ruby, perl, etc), file extensions for those executables need to be added to the PATHEXT environmental variable (defaults to .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC;.CPL) to identify files with these extensions in the PATH as executable. As Get-Command also honours this variable, it can be extended to list custom executables. e.g.
$Env:PATHEXT="$Env:PATHEXT;.dll;.ps1;.psm1;.py" # temporary assignment, only for this shell's process
gcm user32,kernel32,*WASM*,*http*py
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
ExternalScript Invoke-WASMProfiler.ps1 C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Invoke-WASMProfiler.ps1
Application http-server.py 0.0.0.0 C:\Users\ME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\http-server.py
Application kernel32.dll 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel32.dll
Application user32.dll 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\user32.dll
You can quickly set up an alias with sal which gcm (short form of set-alias which get-command).
More information and examples can be found under the online help for Get-Command.
While later versions of Windows have a where command, you can also do this with Windows XP by using the environment variable modifiers, as follows:
c:\> for %i in (cmd.exe) do @echo. %~$PATH:i
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe
c:\> for %i in (python.exe) do @echo. %~$PATH:i
C:\Python25\python.exe
You don't need any extra tools and it's not limited to PATH since you can substitute any environment variable (in the path format, of course) that you wish to use.
And, if you want one that can handle all the extensions in PATHEXT (as Windows itself does), this one does the trick:
@echo off
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
:: Needs an argument.
if "x%1"=="x" (
echo Usage: which ^<progName^>
goto :end
)
:: First try the unadorned filenmame.
set fullspec=
call :find_it %1
:: Then try all adorned filenames in order.
set mypathext=!pathext!
:loop1
:: Stop if found or out of extensions.
if "x!mypathext!"=="x" goto :loop1end
:: Get the next extension and try it.
for /f "delims=;" %%j in ("!mypathext!") do set myext=%%j
call :find_it %1!myext!
:: Remove the extension (not overly efficient but it works).
:loop2
if not "x!myext!"=="x" (
set myext=!myext:~1!
set mypathext=!mypathext:~1!
goto :loop2
)
if not "x!mypathext!"=="x" set mypathext=!mypathext:~1!
goto :loop1
:loop1end
:end
endlocal
goto :eof
:: Function to find and print a file in the path.
:find_it
for %%i in (%1) do set fullspec=%%~$PATH:i
if not "x!fullspec!"=="x" @echo. !fullspec!
goto :eof
It actually returns all possibilities but you can tweak it quite easily for specific search rules.
Just have to post this Windows' one liner batch file:
C:>type wh.cmd
@for %%f in (%*) do for %%e in (%PATHEXT% .dll .lnk) do for %%b in (%%f%%e) do for %%d in (%PATH%) do if exist %%d\%%b echo %%d\%%b
A test:
C:>wh ssh
C:\cygwin64\bin\ssh.EXE
C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\\ssh.EXE
Not quite a one-liner if you wrap the code in setlocal enableextensions and endlocal.
It is possible to download all of the UNIX commands compiled for Windows, including which from this GitHub repository: https://github.com/George-Ogden/UNIX
For you Windows XP users (who have no where command built-in), I have written a "where like" command as a rubygem called whichr.
To install it, install Ruby.
Then
gem install whichr
Run it like:
C:> whichr cmd_here
If you have PowerShell installed (which I recommend), you can use the following command as a rough equivalent (substitute programName for your executable's name):
($Env:Path).Split(";") | Get-ChildItem -filter programName*
More is here: My Manwich! PowerShell Which
You can first install Git from Downloading Git, and then open Git Bash and type:
which app-name
It is possible to download all of the UNIX commands compiled for Windows, including which from this GitHub repository: https://github.com/George-Ogden/UNIX
Just have to post this Windows' one liner batch file:
C:>type wh.cmd
@for %%f in (%*) do for %%e in (%PATHEXT% .dll .lnk) do for %%b in (%%f%%e) do for %%d in (%PATH%) do if exist %%d\%%b echo %%d\%%b
A test:
C:>wh ssh
C:\cygwin64\bin\ssh.EXE
C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\\ssh.EXE
Not quite a one-liner if you wrap the code in setlocal enableextensions and endlocal.
I have created tool similar to Ned Batchelder:
Searching .dll and .exe files in PATH
While my tool is primarly for searching of various dll versions it shows more info (date, size, version) but it do not use PATHEXT (I hope to update my tool soon).
Cygwin is a solution. If you don't mind using a third-party solution, then Cygwin is the way to go.
Cygwin gives you the comfort of *nix in the Windows environment (and you can use it in your Windows command shell, or use a *nix shell of your choice). It gives you a whole host of *nix commands (like which) for Windows, and you can just include that directory in your PATH.
The GnuWin32 tools have which, along with a whole slew of other Unix tools.
Go get unxutils from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils/
gold on windows platforms, puts all the nice unix utilities on a standard windows DOS. Been using it for years.
It has a 'which' included. Note that it's case sensitive though.
NB: to install it explode the zip somewhere and add ...\UnxUtils\usr\local\wbin\ to your system path env variable.
While later versions of Windows have a where command, you can also do this with Windows XP by using the environment variable modifiers, as follows:
c:\> for %i in (cmd.exe) do @echo. %~$PATH:i
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe
c:\> for %i in (python.exe) do @echo. %~$PATH:i
C:\Python25\python.exe
You don't need any extra tools and it's not limited to PATH since you can substitute any environment variable (in the path format, of course) that you wish to use.
And, if you want one that can handle all the extensions in PATHEXT (as Windows itself does), this one does the trick:
@echo off
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
:: Needs an argument.
if "x%1"=="x" (
echo Usage: which ^<progName^>
goto :end
)
:: First try the unadorned filenmame.
set fullspec=
call :find_it %1
:: Then try all adorned filenames in order.
set mypathext=!pathext!
:loop1
:: Stop if found or out of extensions.
if "x!mypathext!"=="x" goto :loop1end
:: Get the next extension and try it.
for /f "delims=;" %%j in ("!mypathext!") do set myext=%%j
call :find_it %1!myext!
:: Remove the extension (not overly efficient but it works).
:loop2
if not "x!myext!"=="x" (
set myext=!myext:~1!
set mypathext=!mypathext:~1!
goto :loop2
)
if not "x!mypathext!"=="x" set mypathext=!mypathext:~1!
goto :loop1
:loop1end
:end
endlocal
goto :eof
:: Function to find and print a file in the path.
:find_it
for %%i in (%1) do set fullspec=%%~$PATH:i
if not "x!fullspec!"=="x" @echo. !fullspec!
goto :eof
It actually returns all possibilities but you can tweak it quite easily for specific search rules.
I have created tool similar to Ned Batchelder:
Searching .dll and .exe files in PATH
While my tool is primarly for searching of various dll versions it shows more info (date, size, version) but it do not use PATHEXT (I hope to update my tool soon).
TCC and TCC/LE from JPSoft are CMD.EXE replacements that add significant functionality. Relevant to the OP's question, which is a builtin command for TCC family command processors.
You can first install Git from Downloading Git, and then open Git Bash and type:
which app-name
If you can find a free Pascal compiler, you can compile this. At least it works and shows the algorithm necessary.
program Whence (input, output);
Uses Dos, my_funk;
Const program_version = '1.00';
program_date = '17 March 1994';
VAR path_str : string;
command_name : NameStr;
command_extension : ExtStr;
command_directory : DirStr;
search_dir : DirStr;
result : DirStr;
procedure Check_for (file_name : string);
{ Check existence of the passed parameter. If exists, then state so }
{ and exit. }
begin
if Fsearch(file_name, '') <> '' then
begin
WriteLn('DOS command = ', Fexpand(file_name));
Halt(0); { structured ? whaddayamean structured ? }
end;
end;
function Get_next_dir : DirStr;
{ Returns the next directory from the path variable, truncating the }
{ variable every time. Implicit input (but not passed as parameter) }
{ is, therefore, path_str }
var semic_pos : Byte;
begin
semic_pos := Pos(';', path_str);
if (semic_pos = 0) then
begin
Get_next_dir := '';
Exit;
end;
result := Copy(Path_str, 1, (semic_pos - 1)); { return result }
{ Hmm! although *I* never reference a Root drive (my directory tree) }
{ is 1/2 way structured), some network logon software which I run }
{ does (it adds Z:\ to the path). This means that I have to allow }
{ path entries with & without a terminating backslash. I'll delete }
{ anysuch here since I always add one in the main program below. }
if (Copy(result, (Length(result)), 1) = '\') then
Delete(result, Length(result), 1);
path_str := Copy(path_str,(semic_pos + 1),
(length(path_str) - semic_pos));
Get_next_dir := result;
end; { Of function get_next_dir }
begin
{ The following is a kludge which makes the function Get_next_dir easier }
{ to implement. By appending a semi-colon to the end of the path }
{ Get_next_dir doesn't need to handle the special case of the last entry }
{ which normally doesn't have a semic afterwards. It may be a kludge, }
{ but it's a documented kludge (you might even call it a refinement). }
path_str := GetEnv('Path') + ';';
if (paramCount = 0) then
begin
WriteLn('Whence: V', program_version, ' from ', program_date);
Writeln;
WriteLn('Usage: WHENCE command[.extension]');
WriteLn;
WriteLn('Whence is a ''find file''type utility witha difference');
Writeln('There are are already more than enough of those :-)');
Write ('Use Whence when you''re not sure where a command which you ');
WriteLn('want to invoke');
WriteLn('actually resides.');
Write ('If you intend to invoke the command with an extension e.g ');
Writeln('"my_cmd.exe param"');
Write ('then invoke Whence with the same extension e.g ');
WriteLn('"Whence my_cmd.exe"');
Write ('otherwise a simple "Whence my_cmd" will suffice; Whence will ');
Write ('then search the current directory and each directory in the ');
Write ('for My_cmd.com, then My_cmd.exe and lastly for my_cmd.bat, ');
Write ('just as DOS does');
Halt(0);
end;
Fsplit(paramStr(1), command_directory, command_name, command_extension);
if (command_directory <> '') then
begin
WriteLn('directory detected *', command_directory, '*');
Halt(0);
end;
if (command_extension <> '') then
begin
path_str := Fsearch(paramstr(1), ''); { Current directory }
if (path_str <> '') then WriteLn('Dos command = "', Fexpand(path_str), '"')
else
begin
path_str := Fsearch(paramstr(1), GetEnv('path'));
if (path_str <> '') then WriteLn('Dos command = "', Fexpand(path_str), '"')
else Writeln('command not found in path.');
end;
end
else
begin
{ O.K, the way it works, DOS looks for a command firstly in the current }
{ directory, then in each directory in the Path. If no extension is }
{ given and several commands of the same name exist, then .COM has }
{ priority over .EXE, has priority over .BAT }
Check_for(paramstr(1) + '.com'); { won't return if file is found }
Check_for(paramstr(1) + '.exe');
Check_for(paramstr(1) + '.bat');
{ Not in current directory, search through path ... }
search_dir := Get_next_dir;
while (search_dir <> '') do
begin
Check_for(search_dir + '\' + paramstr(1) + '.com');
Check_for(search_dir + '\' + paramstr(1) + '.exe');
Check_for(search_dir + '\' + paramstr(1) + '.bat');
search_dir := Get_next_dir;
end;
WriteLn('DOS command not found: ', paramstr(1));
end;
end.
I am using GOW (GNU on Windows) which is a light version of Cygwin. You can grab it from GitHub here.
GOW (GNU on Windows) is the lightweight alternative to Cygwin. It uses a convenient Windows installer that installs about 130 extremely useful open source UNIX applications compiled as native win32 binaries. It is designed to be as small as possible, about 10 MB, as opposed to Cygwin which can run well over 100 MB depending upon options. - About Description(Brent R. Matzelle)
A screenshot of a list of commands included in GOW:
In Windows PowerShell:
set-alias which where.exe
try this
set a=%~$dir:1
If "%for%"=="" (Echo %1 not found) else (echo %1 found at %a%)
Not in stock Windows but it is provided by Services for Unix and there are several simple batch scripts floating around that accomplish the same thing such this this one.
Under PowerShell, Get-Command will find executables anywhere in $Env:PATH.
Get-Command eventvwr
CommandType Name Definition
----------- ---- ----------
Application eventvwr.exe c:\windows\system32\eventvwr.exe
Application eventvwr.msc c:\windows\system32\eventvwr.msc
It also finds PowerShell cmdlets, functions, aliases, files with custom executables extensions via $Env:PATHEXT, etc. defined for the current shell (quite akin to Bash's type -a foo) - making it a better go-to than other tools like where.exe, which.exe, etc which are unaware of these PowerShell commands.
Finding executables using only part of the name
gcm *disk*
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
Alias Disable-PhysicalDiskIndication 2.0.0.0 Storage
Alias Enable-PhysicalDiskIndication 2.0.0.0 Storage
Function Add-PhysicalDisk 2.0.0.0 Storage
Function Add-VirtualDiskToMaskingSet 2.0.0.0 Storage
Function Clear-Disk 2.0.0.0 Storage
Cmdlet Get-PmemDisk 1.0.0.0 PersistentMemory
Cmdlet New-PmemDisk 1.0.0.0 PersistentMemory
Cmdlet Remove-PmemDisk 1.0.0.0 PersistentMemory
Application diskmgmt.msc 0.0.0.0 C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskmgmt.msc
Application diskpart.exe 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskpart.exe
Application diskperf.exe 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskperf.exe
Application diskraid.exe 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskraid.exe
...
Finding custom executables
To find other non-windows executables (python, ruby, perl, etc), file extensions for those executables need to be added to the PATHEXT environmental variable (defaults to .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC;.CPL) to identify files with these extensions in the PATH as executable. As Get-Command also honours this variable, it can be extended to list custom executables. e.g.
$Env:PATHEXT="$Env:PATHEXT;.dll;.ps1;.psm1;.py" # temporary assignment, only for this shell's process
gcm user32,kernel32,*WASM*,*http*py
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
ExternalScript Invoke-WASMProfiler.ps1 C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Invoke-WASMProfiler.ps1
Application http-server.py 0.0.0.0 C:\Users\ME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\http-server.py
Application kernel32.dll 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel32.dll
Application user32.dll 10.0.17... C:\WINDOWS\system32\user32.dll
You can quickly set up an alias with sal which gcm (short form of set-alias which get-command).
More information and examples can be found under the online help for Get-Command.
While later versions of Windows have a where command, you can also do this with Windows XP by using the environment variable modifiers, as follows:
c:\> for %i in (cmd.exe) do @echo. %~$PATH:i
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe
c:\> for %i in (python.exe) do @echo. %~$PATH:i
C:\Python25\python.exe
You don't need any extra tools and it's not limited to PATH since you can substitute any environment variable (in the path format, of course) that you wish to use.
And, if you want one that can handle all the extensions in PATHEXT (as Windows itself does), this one does the trick:
@echo off
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
:: Needs an argument.
if "x%1"=="x" (
echo Usage: which ^<progName^>
goto :end
)
:: First try the unadorned filenmame.
set fullspec=
call :find_it %1
:: Then try all adorned filenames in order.
set mypathext=!pathext!
:loop1
:: Stop if found or out of extensions.
if "x!mypathext!"=="x" goto :loop1end
:: Get the next extension and try it.
for /f "delims=;" %%j in ("!mypathext!") do set myext=%%j
call :find_it %1!myext!
:: Remove the extension (not overly efficient but it works).
:loop2
if not "x!myext!"=="x" (
set myext=!myext:~1!
set mypathext=!mypathext:~1!
goto :loop2
)
if not "x!mypathext!"=="x" set mypathext=!mypathext:~1!
goto :loop1
:loop1end
:end
endlocal
goto :eof
:: Function to find and print a file in the path.
:find_it
for %%i in (%1) do set fullspec=%%~$PATH:i
if not "x!fullspec!"=="x" @echo. !fullspec!
goto :eof
It actually returns all possibilities but you can tweak it quite easily for specific search rules.
In Windows CMD which calls where:
$ where php
C:\Program Files\PHP\php.exe
The best version of this I've found on Windows is Joseph Newcomer's "whereis" utility, which is available (with source) from his site.
The article about the development of "whereis" is worth reading.
I have created tool similar to Ned Batchelder:
Searching .dll and .exe files in PATH
While my tool is primarly for searching of various dll versions it shows more info (date, size, version) but it do not use PATHEXT (I hope to update my tool soon).
In PowerShell, it is gcm, which gives formatted information about other commands. If you want to retrieve only path to executable, use .Source.
For instance: gcm git or (gcm git).Source
Tidbits:
- Available for Windows XP.
- Available since PowerShell 1.0.
gcmis an alias ofGet-Commandcmdlet.- Without any parameters, it lists down all the available commands offered by the host shell.
- You can create a custom alias with
Set-Alias which gcmand use it like:(which git).Source. - Official docs: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee176842.aspx
Not in stock Windows but it is provided by Services for Unix and there are several simple batch scripts floating around that accomplish the same thing such this this one.
None of the Win32 ports of Unix which that I could find on the Internet are satistactory, because they all have one or more of these shortcomings:
- No support for Windows PATHEXT variable. (Which defines the list of extensions implicitely added to each command before scanning the path, and in which order.) (I use a lot of tcl scripts, and no publicly available which tool could find them.)
- No support for cmd.exe code pages, which makes them display paths with non-ascii characters incorrectly. (I'm very sensitive to that, with the ç in my first name :-))
- No support for the distinct search rules in cmd.exe and the PowerShell command line. (No publicly available tool will find .ps1 scripts in a PowerShell window, but not in a cmd window!)
So I eventually wrote my own which, that suports all the above correctly.
Available there: http://jf.larvoire.free.fr/progs/which.exe
If you can find a free Pascal compiler, you can compile this. At least it works and shows the algorithm necessary.
program Whence (input, output);
Uses Dos, my_funk;
Const program_version = '1.00';
program_date = '17 March 1994';
VAR path_str : string;
command_name : NameStr;
command_extension : ExtStr;
command_directory : DirStr;
search_dir : DirStr;
result : DirStr;
procedure Check_for (file_name : string);
{ Check existence of the passed parameter. If exists, then state so }
{ and exit. }
begin
if Fsearch(file_name, '') <> '' then
begin
WriteLn('DOS command = ', Fexpand(file_name));
Halt(0); { structured ? whaddayamean structured ? }
end;
end;
function Get_next_dir : DirStr;
{ Returns the next directory from the path variable, truncating the }
{ variable every time. Implicit input (but not passed as parameter) }
{ is, therefore, path_str }
var semic_pos : Byte;
begin
semic_pos := Pos(';', path_str);
if (semic_pos = 0) then
begin
Get_next_dir := '';
Exit;
end;
result := Copy(Path_str, 1, (semic_pos - 1)); { return result }
{ Hmm! although *I* never reference a Root drive (my directory tree) }
{ is 1/2 way structured), some network logon software which I run }
{ does (it adds Z:\ to the path). This means that I have to allow }
{ path entries with & without a terminating backslash. I'll delete }
{ anysuch here since I always add one in the main program below. }
if (Copy(result, (Length(result)), 1) = '\') then
Delete(result, Length(result), 1);
path_str := Copy(path_str,(semic_pos + 1),
(length(path_str) - semic_pos));
Get_next_dir := result;
end; { Of function get_next_dir }
begin
{ The following is a kludge which makes the function Get_next_dir easier }
{ to implement. By appending a semi-colon to the end of the path }
{ Get_next_dir doesn't need to handle the special case of the last entry }
{ which normally doesn't have a semic afterwards. It may be a kludge, }
{ but it's a documented kludge (you might even call it a refinement). }
path_str := GetEnv('Path') + ';';
if (paramCount = 0) then
begin
WriteLn('Whence: V', program_version, ' from ', program_date);
Writeln;
WriteLn('Usage: WHENCE command[.extension]');
WriteLn;
WriteLn('Whence is a ''find file''type utility witha difference');
Writeln('There are are already more than enough of those :-)');
Write ('Use Whence when you''re not sure where a command which you ');
WriteLn('want to invoke');
WriteLn('actually resides.');
Write ('If you intend to invoke the command with an extension e.g ');
Writeln('"my_cmd.exe param"');
Write ('then invoke Whence with the same extension e.g ');
WriteLn('"Whence my_cmd.exe"');
Write ('otherwise a simple "Whence my_cmd" will suffice; Whence will ');
Write ('then search the current directory and each directory in the ');
Write ('for My_cmd.com, then My_cmd.exe and lastly for my_cmd.bat, ');
Write ('just as DOS does');
Halt(0);
end;
Fsplit(paramStr(1), command_directory, command_name, command_extension);
if (command_directory <> '') then
begin
WriteLn('directory detected *', command_directory, '*');
Halt(0);
end;
if (command_extension <> '') then
begin
path_str := Fsearch(paramstr(1), ''); { Current directory }
if (path_str <> '') then WriteLn('Dos command = "', Fexpand(path_str), '"')
else
begin
path_str := Fsearch(paramstr(1), GetEnv('path'));
if (path_str <> '') then WriteLn('Dos command = "', Fexpand(path_str), '"')
else Writeln('command not found in path.');
end;
end
else
begin
{ O.K, the way it works, DOS looks for a command firstly in the current }
{ directory, then in each directory in the Path. If no extension is }
{ given and several commands of the same name exist, then .COM has }
{ priority over .EXE, has priority over .BAT }
Check_for(paramstr(1) + '.com'); { won't return if file is found }
Check_for(paramstr(1) + '.exe');
Check_for(paramstr(1) + '.bat');
{ Not in current directory, search through path ... }
search_dir := Get_next_dir;
while (search_dir <> '') do
begin
Check_for(search_dir + '\' + paramstr(1) + '.com');
Check_for(search_dir + '\' + paramstr(1) + '.exe');
Check_for(search_dir + '\' + paramstr(1) + '.bat');
search_dir := Get_next_dir;
end;
WriteLn('DOS command not found: ', paramstr(1));
end;
end.
I have a function in my PowerShell profile named 'which'
function which {
get-command $args[0]| format-list
}
Here's what the output looks like:
PS C:\Users\fez> which python
Name : python.exe
CommandType : Application
Definition : C:\Python27\python.exe
Extension : .exe
Path : C:\Python27\python.exe
FileVersionInfo : File: C:\Python27\python.exe
InternalName:
OriginalFilename:
FileVersion:
FileDescription:
Product:
ProductVersion:
Debug: False
Patched: False
PreRelease: False
PrivateBuild: False
SpecialBuild: False
Language:
Source: Stackoverflow.com