How do I get which to show aliases?

Question

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How to use which on an aliased command?

I'm used to working on systems where which would list aliases, so e.g. if I have an alias like this:

alias foo=/path/to/executable

Then I get meaningful output from which foo. (From memory it's something like alias: /path/to/executable).

On my Macbook Pro (Snow Leopard) this doesn't work. I seem to recall it's non-standard and needs an alias of its own (on which) to work, but I've forgotten the details. Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

(I'm a bash man if that makes any difference to your answer.)

score 12 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 05 '11 at 20:58

12

I would use type instead of which, because which is unreliable (as you noticed; unless it's a shell builtin, it has to guess at your environment).

answered Apr 05 '11 at 20:58

geekosaur

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Thanks, hadn't come across `type` before. There's a lot of muscle memory for me to overcome in order to wean off `which` though. :) – Simon Whitaker Apr 05 '11 at 21:03
`alias which type`? – geekosaur Apr 05 '11 at 21:05
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I like `alias where='type -a'` – glenn jackman Apr 05 '11 at 21:55
I do the same as glenn, but mine is: alias witch='type -a', and just to play it safe for forgetful me: alias which=witch – bev Apr 06 '11 at 20:31

How do I get which to show aliases?

1 Answers1