Equivalent of *Nix 'which' command in PowerShell? - unix

Question

How do I ask PowerShell where something is?
For instance, "which notepad" and it returns the directory where the notepad.exe is run from according to the current paths.

Answer 1

The very first alias I made once I started customizing my profile in PowerShell was 'which'.
New-Alias which get-command
To add this to your profile, type this:
"`nNew-Alias which get-command" | add-content $profile
The `n at the start of the last line is to ensure it will start as a new line.

Answer 2

Here is an actual *nix equivalent, i.e. it gives *nix-style output.
Get-Command <your command> | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Definition
Just replace with whatever you're looking for.
PS C:\> Get-Command notepad.exe | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Definition
C:\Windows\system32\notepad.exe
When you add it to your profile, you will want to use a function rather than an alias because you can't use aliases with pipes:
function which($name)
{
Get-Command $name | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Definition
}
Now, when you reload your profile you can do this:
PS C:\> which notepad
C:\Windows\system32\notepad.exe

Answer 3

I usually just type:
gcm notepad
or
gcm note*
gcm is the default alias for Get-Command.
On my system, gcm note* outputs:
[27] » gcm note*
CommandType Name Definition
----------- ---- ----------
Application notepad.exe C:\WINDOWS\notepad.exe
Application notepad.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\notepad.exe
Application Notepad2.exe C:\Utils\Notepad2.exe
Application Notepad2.ini C:\Utils\Notepad2.ini
You get the directory and the command that matches what you're looking for.

Answer 4

Try this example:
(Get-Command notepad.exe).Path

Answer 5

My proposition for the Which function:
function which($cmd) { get-command $cmd | % { $_.Path } }
PS C:\> which devcon
C:\local\code\bin\devcon.exe

Answer 6

A quick-and-dirty match to Unix which is
New-Alias which where.exe
But it returns multiple lines if they exist so then it becomes
function which {where.exe command | select -first 1}

Answer 7

I like Get-Command | Format-List, or shorter, using aliases for the two and only for powershell.exe:
gcm powershell | fl
You can find aliases like this:
alias -definition Format-List
Tab completion works with gcm.
To have tab list all options at once:
set-psreadlineoption -editmode emacs

Answer 8

This seems to do what you want (I found it on http://huddledmasses.org/powershell-find-path/):
Function Find-Path($Path, [switch]$All = $false, [Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.TestPathType]$type = "Any")
## You could comment out the function stuff and use it as a script instead, with this line:
#param($Path, [switch]$All = $false, [Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.TestPathType]$type = "Any")
if($(Test-Path $Path -Type $type)) {
return $path
} else {
[string[]]$paths = #($pwd);
$paths += "$pwd;$env:path".split(";")
$paths = Join-Path $paths $(Split-Path $Path -leaf) | ? { Test-Path $_ -Type $type }
if($paths.Length -gt 0) {
if($All) {
return $paths;
} else {
return $paths[0]
}
}
}
throw "Couldn't find a matching path of type $type"
}
Set-Alias find Find-Path

Answer 9

Check this PowerShell Which.
The code provided there suggests this:
($Env:Path).Split(";") | Get-ChildItem -filter notepad.exe

Answer 10

Try the where command on Windows 2003 or later (or Windows 2000/XP if you've installed a Resource Kit).
BTW, this received more answers in other questions:
Is there an equivalent of 'which' on Windows?
PowerShell equivalent to Unix which command?

Answer 11

If you want a comamnd that both accepts input from pipeline or as paramater, you should try this:
function which($name) {
if ($name) { $input = $name }
Get-Command $input | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Path
}
copy-paste the command to your profile (notepad $profile).
Examples:
❯ echo clang.exe | which
C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin\clang.exe
❯ which clang.exe
C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin\clang.exe

Answer 12

I have this which advanced function in my PowerShell profile:
function which {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Identifies the source of a PowerShell command.
.DESCRIPTION
Identifies the source of a PowerShell command. External commands (Applications) are identified by the path to the executable
(which must be in the system PATH); cmdlets and functions are identified as such and the name of the module they are defined in
provided; aliases are expanded and the source of the alias definition is returned.
.INPUTS
No inputs; you cannot pipe data to this function.
.OUTPUTS
.PARAMETER Name
The name of the command to be identified.
.EXAMPLE
PS C:\Users\Smith\Documents> which Get-Command
Get-Command: Cmdlet in module Microsoft.PowerShell.Core
(Identifies type and source of command)
.EXAMPLE
PS C:\Users\Smith\Documents> which notepad
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\notepad.exe
(Indicates the full path of the executable)
#>
param(
[String]$name
)
$cmd = Get-Command $name
$redirect = $null
switch ($cmd.CommandType) {
"Alias" { "{0}: Alias for ({1})" -f $cmd.Name, (. { which $cmd.Definition } ) }
"Application" { $cmd.Source }
"Cmdlet" { "{0}: {1} {2}" -f $cmd.Name, $cmd.CommandType, (. { if ($cmd.Source.Length) { "in module {0}" -f $cmd.Source} else { "from unspecified source" } } ) }
"Function" { "{0}: {1} {2}" -f $cmd.Name, $cmd.CommandType, (. { if ($cmd.Source.Length) { "in module {0}" -f $cmd.Source} else { "from unspecified source" } } ) }
"Workflow" { "{0}: {1} {2}" -f $cmd.Name, $cmd.CommandType, (. { if ($cmd.Source.Length) { "in module {0}" -f $cmd.Source} else { "from unspecified source" } } ) }
"ExternalScript" { $cmd.Source }
default { $cmd }
}
}

Answer 13

Use:
function Which([string] $cmd) {
$path = (($Env:Path).Split(";") | Select -uniq | Where { $_.Length } | Where { Test-Path $_ } | Get-ChildItem -filter $cmd).FullName
if ($path) { $path.ToString() }
}
# Check if Chocolatey is installed
if (Which('cinst.bat')) {
Write-Host "yes"
} else {
Write-Host "no"
}
Or this version, calling the original where command.
This version also works better, because it is not limited to bat files:
function which([string] $cmd) {
$where = iex $(Join-Path $env:SystemRoot "System32\where.exe $cmd 2>&1")
$first = $($where -split '[\r\n]')
if ($first.getType().BaseType.Name -eq 'Array') {
$first = $first[0]
}
if (Test-Path $first) {
$first
}
}
# Check if Curl is installed
if (which('curl')) {
echo 'yes'
} else {
echo 'no'
}

Answer 14

You can install the which command from https://goprogram.co.uk/software/commands, along with all of the other UNIX commands.

Answer 15

If you have scoop you can install a direct clone of which:
scoop install which
which notepad

Answer 16

There also always the option of using which. there are actually three ways to access which from Windows powershell, the first (not necessarily the best) wsl -e which command (this requires installation of windows subsystem for Linux and a running distro). B. gnuwin32 which is a port of several gnu binaries in .exe format as standle alone bundled lanunchers option three, install msys2 (cross compiler platform) if you go where it installed in /usr/bin you'll find many many gnu utils that are more up-to-date. most of them work as stand alone exe and can be copied from the bin folder to your home drive somewhere amd added to your PATH.

Answer 17

There also always the option of using which. there are actually three ways to access which from Windows powershell
The first, (though not the best) is wsl(windows subsystem for linux)
wsl -e which command
This requires installation of windows subsystem for Linux and a running distro.
Next is gnuwin32 which is a port of several gnu binaries in .exe format as standle alone bundled lanunchers
Third, install msys2 (cross compiler platform) if you go where it installed in /usr/bin you'll find many many gnu utils that are more up-to-date. most of them work as stand alone exe and can be copied from the bin folder to your home drive somewhere amd added to your PATH.