Is there an equivalent of the Unix whereis command in Windows?

So that I could figure out where commands I can run actually is.

10 Answers

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

5

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

0

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)
)

2

2021 - Windows 10/11

gcm <command>

Get-Command

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.

There is at least a Windows port for the which utility.

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

2

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 

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:using where to find all copies of csc.exe

You can try searching for the command using the following:

dir /s type-whatever-you-are-searching

2

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