Type (Unix)

type
type
	Examples of type command
Original author	AT&T Corporation
Developers	Various open-source and commercial developers
Initial release	1984; 41 years ago
Operating system	Unix and Unix-like
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Command

In Unix and Unix-like operating systems, type is a command that describes how its arguments would be interpreted if used as command names.

Function

Where applicable, type will display the command name's path.^[1]^[2] Possible command types are:

The command returns a non-zero exit status if command names cannot be found.

$ type test
test is a shell builtin
$ type cp
cp is /bin/cp
$ type unknown
unknown not found
$ type type
type is a shell builtin

The type command was a shell builtin for Bourne shell that was introduced in AT&T's System V Release 2 (SVR2) in 1984,^[3] and continues to be included in many other POSIX-compatible shells such as Bash. However, type is not part of the POSIX standard. With a POSIX shell, similar behavior is retrieved with

command -V name

In the KornShell, the command whence provides similar functionality.^[4]

The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part of the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities.^[5]

^ "Use Type Command in Linux to Get More Info About Commands". Linux Handbook. 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
^ "type command in Linux with Examples". GeeksforGeeks. 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
^ "traditional Bourne shell family / history and development". www.in-ulm.de. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
^ Siever, Ellen (27 July 2005). Linux in a Nutshell. Nutshell handbooks. O'Reilly Media, Inc. (published 2005). p. 695. ISBN 9780596009304. Retrieved 2016-07-05. whence [...] Korn shell only. Show whether each command is a Unix command, a built-in command, a defined shell function, or an alias.
^ Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities

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v t e Unix command-line interface programs and shell builtins
File system	cat chattr chmod chown chgrp cksum cmp cp dd du df file fuser ln ls mkdir mv pax pwd rm rmdir split tee touch type umask
Processes	at bg crontab fg kill nice ps time
User environment	env exit logname mesg talk tput uname who write
Text processing	awk basename comm csplit cut diff dirname ed ex fold head iconv join m4 more nl paste patch printf read sed sort strings tail tr troff uniq vi wc xargs
Shell builtins	alias cd echo test unset wait
Searching	find grep
Documentation	man
Software development	ar ctags lex make nm strip yacc
Miscellaneous	bc cal expr lp od sleep true and false
Categories Standard Unix programs Unix SUS2008 utilities List