On 21/06/2019 19:45, Eli Schwartz via arch-general wrote:
Also, man which If you get a chance the linux cookbook will be informative reading given your new position. Please do *not* use /usr/bin/which, especially not if you write scripts. It is non-POSIX, not portable between different different systems if you write scripts, and even on an interactive console where you know you
On 6/21/19 12:13 PM, Jude DaShiell wrote: personally have the "which" package installed, the results are more confusing and less useful than using the native shell introspection.
use `command -v` to find where a command exists, or, in bash, `type -a` if you want to see all possible options.
For more details, see: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/85249/why-not-use-which-what-to-use... Especially note the "Status today" paragraphs, and if you stubbornly wish to continue using "which" despite its well-known pitfalls, then carefully avoid any systems where "which" is implemented as a csh script (like many commercial Unix systems today).
...
Use the "conflict" command if you're afraid you may have multiple versions of an externally available executable file in your $PATH and you want to check where they are and what you're actually using.
Since the common use case of "which" is when you actually want to know whether you're using the wrong version of something, the ideal interactive debugging tool is "type -a"... but the "conflict" command can do one better -- limited to executables and not shell builtins, aliases, or functions -- and list *all* conflicting command binaries.
Should you always create POSIX-compatible scripts though? All these non-POSIX tools were created to ease your job, and you blow them away as non-POSIX? If you're creating a single-purpose local script, I think it's fair to make it a bash script and use tools which you have available on your install, instead of limiting yourself to frankly ridiculous workarounds to the shortcomings of POSIX. Just because a tool can do anything doesn't mean it can do everything well, or that you have enough cognitive capacity at 3 am to write your stupid POSIX-compatible shell scripts. P.S. which is an absolutely terrible command though, modern POSIX alternatives are much better for this specific use case. -- Regards, Juha Kankare