Linux and Unix whereis command
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About whereis
Syntax
Examples
Related commands
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Locate a binary, source, and manual page files for a command.
whereis [ -bmsu ] [ -BMS directory... -f ] filename ...
| -b | Search only for binaries. |
| -m | Search only for manual sections. |
| -s | Search only for sources. |
| -u | Search for unusual entries. A file is said to be unusual if it does not have one entry of each requested type. Thus `whereis -m -u *' asks for those files in the current directory which have no documentation. |
| -B | Change or otherwise limit the places where whereis searches for binaries. |
| -M | Change or otherwise limit the places where whereis searches for manual sections. |
| -S | Change or otherwise limit the places where whereis searches for sources. |
| -f | Terminate the last directory list and signals the start of file names, and must be used when any of the -B, -M, or -S options are used. |
whereis -u -M /usr/man/man1 -S /usr/src -f *
In the above example the whereis command would search for any manual for any file in the current directory.
whereis perl
Locate the directories for where Perl is stored.