Linux Command Directory
This directory of Linux commands is from Linux in a Nutshell, 5th Edition.
Click on any of the 687 commands below to get a description and list of available options. All links in the command summaries point to the online version of the book on Safari Bookshelf.
Buy it now, or read it online on Safari Bookshelf.
whereis
whereis [options] files
Locate the binary, source, and manual page files for specified commands/files. The supplied filenames are first stripped of leading pathname components and any (single) trailing extension of the form .ext (for example, .c). Prefixes of s. resulting from use of source code control are also dealt with. whereis then attempts to locate the desired program in a list of standard Linux directories (/bin, /etc, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin/, etc.).
Options
Search only for binaries.
Terminate the last directory list and signal the start of filenames. Required when the -B, -M, or -S option is used.
Search only for manual sections.
Search only for sources.
Search for unusual entries—that is, files that do not have one entry of each requested type. Thus, the command whereis -m -u * asks for those files in the current directory that have no documentation.
Change or otherwise limit the directories to search for binaries.
Change or otherwise limit the directories to search for manual sections.
Change or otherwise limit the directories to search for sources.
Example
Find all files in /usr/bin that are not documented in /usr/share/man/man1 but that have source in /usr/src:
$ cd /usr/bin $ whereis -u -M /usr/share/man/man1 -S /usr/src -f *
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