which

What is which?

The 'which' npm package is a simple utility to locate a command in the user's path, similar to the Unix 'which' command. It is used to find the first instance of a specified executable in the system path, which can be useful for ensuring that a required command-line tool is available and for invoking system commands from Node.js scripts.

What are which's main functionalities?

Synchronous command search

This feature allows you to synchronously find the path to an executable in the system's PATH. The 'sync' method returns the path to the specified executable if it exists.

const which = require('which');
const cmdPath = which.sync('node');
console.log(`Node.js is located at: ${cmdPath}`);

Asynchronous command search

This feature allows you to asynchronously find the path to an executable in the system's PATH. The 'which' function takes a callback that receives the path to the specified executable if it exists.

const which = require('which');
which('node', function (err, cmdPath) {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log(`Node.js is located at: ${cmdPath}`);
});

Throw on not found

This feature allows you to specify whether the 'which' method should throw an error if the command is not found. By default, or when 'nothrow' is set to false, it will throw an error.

const which = require('which');
try {
  const cmdPath = which.sync('unknown-command', {nothrow: false});
} catch (e) {
  console.error('Command not found');
}

Other packages similar to which

find-exec

The 'find-exec' package is similar to 'which' in that it helps you find the path to executables in your PATH. However, it has a different API and may offer additional options for searching.

lookpath

The 'lookpath' package is another alternative to 'which' that provides a way to check for the existence of an executable in the system's PATH. It is designed to be a simple and lightweight solution with a promise-based API.

command-exists

The 'command-exists' package is used to check if a given command-line tool is available on the system's PATH. Unlike 'which', it does not return the path to the executable but simply a boolean indicating whether the command exists.

README

which

Like the unix which utility.

Finds the first instance of a specified executable in the PATH environment variable. Does not cache the results, so hash -r is not needed when the PATH changes.

USAGE

const which = require('which')

// async usage
// rejects if not found
const resolved = await which('node')

// if nothrow option is used, returns null if not found
const resolvedOrNull = await which('node', { nothrow: true })

// sync usage
// throws if not found
const resolved = which.sync('node')

// if nothrow option is used, returns null if not found
const resolvedOrNull = which.sync('node', { nothrow: true })

// Pass options to override the PATH and PATHEXT environment vars.
await which('node', { path: someOtherPath, pathExt: somePathExt })

CLI USAGE

Just like the BSD which(1) binary but using node-which.

usage: node-which [-as] program ...

You can learn more about why the binary is node-which and not which here

OPTIONS

You may pass an options object as the second argument.

• path: Use instead of the PATH environment variable.
• pathExt: Use instead of the PATHEXT environment variable.
• all: Return all matches, instead of just the first one. Note that this means the function returns an array of strings instead of a single string.

Changelog

5.0.0 (2024-10-01)

⚠️ BREAKING CHANGES

• which now supports node ^18.17.0 || >=20.5.0

Bug Fixes

• 77aba08 #151 align to npm 10 node engine range (@reggi)

Chores

• 5d49ed0 #151 run template-oss-apply (@reggi)
• 8a2d8e0 #149 bump @npmcli/eslint-config from 4.0.5 to 5.0.0 (@dependabot[bot])
• d4009b2 #138 bump @npmcli/template-oss to 4.22.0 (@lukekarrys)
• 1a07cd7 #150 postinstall for dependabot template-oss PR (@hashtagchris)
• 45f3aa8 #150 bump @npmcli/template-oss from 4.23.1 to 4.23.3 (@dependabot[bot])