NAME
whereis - locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a command
SYNOPSIS
whereis [options] [-BMSdirectory... -f] name...
DESCRIPTION
whereis locates the binary, source and manual files for the specified command names. The supplied names are first stripped of leading pathname components. Prefixes of s. resulting from use of source code control are also dealt with. whereis then attempts to locate the desired program in the standard Linux places, and in the places specified by $PATH and $MANPATH.
The search restrictions (options -b, -m and -s) are cumulative and apply to the subsequent name patterns on the command line. Any new search restriction resets the search mask. For example,
whereis -bm ls tr -m gcc
searches for "ls" and "tr" binaries and man pages, and for "gcc" man pages only.
The options -B, -M and -S reset search paths for the subsequent name patterns. For example,
whereis -m ls -M /usr/share/man/man1 -f cal
searches for "ls" man pages in all default paths, but for "cal" in the /usr/share/man/man1 directory only.
OPTIONS
-b
-m
-s
-u
-Blist
-Mlist
-Slist
-f
-l
-g
whereis -g 'find*'-h, --help
-V, --version
FILE SEARCH PATHS
By default whereis tries to find files from hard-coded paths, which are defined with glob patterns. The command attempts to use the contents of $PATH and $MANPATH environment variables as default search path. The easiest way to know what paths are in use is to add the -l listing option. Effects of the -B, -M, and -S are displayed with -l.
ENVIRONMENT
WHEREIS_DEBUG=all
EXAMPLES
To find all files in /usr/bin which are not documented in /usr/man/man1 or have no source in /usr/src:
cd /usr/bin whereis -u -ms -M /usr/man/man1 -S /usr/src -f *
REPORTING BUGS
For bug reports, use the issue tracker <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.
AVAILABILITY
The whereis command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.