---
name: "which"
section: "1"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/which"
---

# which(1)

locate a program file in the user's path

## NAME

**which** – locate a program file in the user's path

## SYNOPSIS

**which** \[**-as**\] *program* *...*

## DESCRIPTION

The **which** utility takes a list of command names and searches the path for each executable file that would be run had these commands actually been invoked.

The following options are available:

- **-a**

  List all instances of executables found (instead of just the first one of each).

- **-s**

  No output, just return 0 if all of the executables are found, or 1 if some were not found.

Some shells may provide a builtin **which** command which is similar or identical to this utility. Consult the [builtin(1)](/builtin/1.md) manual page.

## EXAMPLES

Locate the [ls(1)](/ls/1.md) and [cp(1)](/cp/1.md) commands:

```
$ /usr/bin/which ls cp
/bin/ls
/bin/cp
```

Same as above with a specific PATH and showing all occurrences:

```
$ PATH=/bin:/rescue /usr/bin/which -a ls cp
/bin/ls
/rescue/ls
/bin/cp
/rescue/cp
```

**which** will show duplicates if the same executable is found more than once:

```
$ PATH=/bin:/bin /usr/bin/which -a ls
/bin/ls
/bin/ls
```

Do not show output. Just exit with an appropriate return code:

```
$ /usr/bin/which -s ls cp
$ echo $?
0
$ /usr/bin/which -s fakecommand
$ echo $?
1
```

## SEE ALSO

[builtin(1)](/builtin/1.md), [csh(1)](/csh/1.md), [find(1)](/find/1.md), [locate(1)](/locate/1.md), [whereis(1)](/whereis/1.md)

## HISTORY

The **which** command first appeared in FreeBSD 2.1.

## AUTHORS

The **which** utility was originally written in Perl and was contributed by Wolfram Schneider ⟨*wosch@FreeBSD.org*⟩. The current version of **which** was rewritten in C by Daniel Papasian ⟨*dpapasia@andrew.cmu.edu*⟩.