Linux type Command: Identify Commands, Functions, Aliases, or Files

The type command in Linux is used to describe some name provided as a parameter, such as a bash builtin, program, function, alias, or file. If no name is provided, it does nothing.

The type command is commonly used to find information about a Linux command. You can easily discover if the given command is an alias, builtin, file, function, or keyword using the "type" command. Additionally, you can also find the actual path of the command.

Why would someone need to find the "type" of a command? For example, if you happen to work on a shared computer frequently, someone may intentionally or accidentally create an alias for a certain Linux command to perform an unwanted operation, for example "alias ls = rm -rf/". Therefore, it's always a good idea to inspect them before something worse happens. This is where the type command comes in handy.

Examples:

$ type bashbash is /usr/bin/bash

$ type llll is aliased to `ls -l --color=auto'

$ type for
for is a shell keyword

$ type -t ls
alias

$ type -t mkdir
file

$ type -t pwd
builtin

$ type -t if
keyword

$ type -t rvm
function

Another useful advantage of the type command is that we can easily discover the absolute path of a given Linux command. To do this, use the "-p" option as shown below:

$ type -p cal
/usr/bin/cal

This example is similar to the 'which ls' command. If the given command is an alias, nothing will be printed.

To display all information about a command, use the "-a" option:

$ type -a ls
ls is aliased to `ls --color=auto'
ls is /usr/bin/ls
ls is /bin/ls

Conclusion

If you need to know about a given command, you can use type to describe whether the command is a shell builtin, a program, or an alias.

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