---
name: "kpsewhich"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "texlive-doc"
version: "2026.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/kpsewhich"
---

# kpsewhich(1)

standalone path lookup and and expansion for kpathsea

## NAME

kpsewhich - standalone path lookup and and expansion for kpathsea

## SYNOPSIS

**kpsewhich** \[*options*\] \[*filenames*\]

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete documentation for this version of TeX can be found in the info file or manual *Kpathsea: A library for path searching*.

**kpsewhich** is used as a standalone front-end of the kpathsea library that can be used to examine variables and find files.  When the **-format** option is not given, the search path used when looking for a file is inferred from the name given, by looking for a known extension.  If no known extension is found, the search path for TeX source files is used.

## OPTIONS

**kpsewhich** accepts the following options:

- **-debug** *num*

  Set debugging flags.

- **-D** *num*

  Use a base resolution of *num*; the default, set by the installer, is typically 600.

- **-dpi** *num*

  As **-D.**

- **-engine** *string*

  Set *$engine* in the environment, which is used in some search paths.

- **-expand-braces** *string*

  Print variable and brace expansion of *string*.

- **-expand-path** *string*

  Print complete path expansion of *string*.

- **-expand-var** *string*

  Print variable expansion of *string*.

- **-format** *name*

  Use file type *name*. See the info manual for a list of valid names, or use the **-help** option to print the list.

- **-help**

  Print help message and exit.

- **-interactive**

  Ask for additional filenames to look up.

- **-mktex** *fmt*

  enable mktex*fmt* generation. (*fmt*=pk/mf/tex/tfm)

- **-mode** *string*

  Set device name for *$MAKETEX\_MODE* to *string*; no default.

- **-must-exist**

  Search the disk as well as ls-R if necessary.

- **-no-mktex** *fmt*

  disable mktex*fmt* generation. (*fmt*=pk/mf/tex/tfm)

- **-path** *string*

  Search in the path *string*.

- **-progname** *string*

  Set program name to *string*.

- **-show-path** *name*

  Output search path for file type *name*. See the info manual for a list of valid names, or use the **-help** option to print the list.

- **-var-value** *variable*

  Print the expansion of *variable*.

- **-version**

  Print version information and exit.

## SEE ALSO

[**mktexlsr**(1)](/mktexlsr/1.md), [**mktexmf**(1)](/mktexmf/1.md), [**mktexpk**(1)](/mktexpk/1.md), [**mktextfm**(1)](/mktextfm/1.md).