which and whereis for commands in Linux CLI - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using which and whereis Commands in Linux CLI

📖 Scenario: You are learning how to find the location of commands on a Linux system. This helps you understand where programs are stored and which version will run when you type a command.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple script that uses which and whereis commands to find the locations of specific Linux commands.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use the which command to find the path of a command

Use the whereis command to find all locations related to a command

Print the results clearly

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Knowing where commands are located helps you troubleshoot issues and understand your system better.

💼 Career

System administrators and developers often need to find command locations to configure environments or debug problems.

1

Create a variable with the command name

Create a variable called cmd and set it to the string ls.

Linux CLI

cmd="ls"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use cmd="ls" to store the command name.

2

Use which to find the command path

Use the which command with the variable cmd and save the output to a variable called which_path.

Linux CLI

cmd="ls"
which_path=$(which $cmd)  # Your code here

Need a hint?

Use which_path=$(which $cmd) to get the command path.

3

Use whereis to find all related locations

Use the whereis command with the variable cmd and save the output to a variable called whereis_info.

Linux CLI

cmd="ls"
which_path=$(which $cmd)
whereis_info=$(whereis $cmd)  # Your code here

Need a hint?

Use whereis_info=$(whereis $cmd) to get all locations.

4

Print the results clearly

Print the text Path found by which: followed by the variable which_path, then print Information found by whereis: followed by the variable whereis_info.

Linux CLI

cmd="ls"
which_path=$(which $cmd)
whereis_info=$(whereis $cmd)
echo "Path found by which: $which_path"
echo "Information found by whereis: $whereis_info"  # Your code here

Need a hint?

Use echo to print the variables with descriptive text.