WHEREIS linux command manual
WHEREIS(1) WHEREIS(1)
NAME
whereis - locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a com-
mand
SYNOPSIS
whereis [ -bmsu ] [ -BMS directory... -f ] filename ...
DESCRIPTION
whereis locates source/binary and manuals sections for specified
files. The supplied names are first stripped of leading pathname com-
ponents and any (single) trailing extension of the form .ext, for
example, .c. Prefixes of s. resulting from use of source code con-
trol are also dealt with. whereis then attempts to locate the desired
program in a list of standard Linux places.
OPTIONS
-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 direc-
tory 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.
EXAMPLE
Find all files in /usr/bin which are not documented in /usr/man/man1
with source in /usr/src:
example% cd /usr/bin
example% whereis -u -M /usr/man/man1 -S /usr/src -f *
FILES
/{bin,sbin,etc}
/usr/{lib,bin,old,new,local,games,include,etc,src,man,sbin,
X386,TeX,g++-include}
/usr/local/{X386,TeX,X11,include,lib,man,etc,bin,games,emacs}
SEE ALSO
chdir(2V)
BUGS
Since whereis uses chdir(2V) to run faster, pathnames given with the
-M, -S, or -B must be full; that is, they must begin with a '/'.
whereis has a hard-coded path, so may not always find what you're
looking for.
8 May 1994 WHEREIS(1)