How to use the command 'where' (with examples)

The ‘where’ command is used to display the location of files that match a specified search pattern. It is a useful tool for quickly finding the location of files in the Windows operating system.

Use case 1: Display the location of file pattern

Code:

where file_pattern

Motivation:

This use case is helpful when you want to find the location of a specific file in your current working directory or in the paths specified in the PATH environment variable.

Explanation:

• ‘where’ is the command to execute the search.
• ‘file_pattern’ is the pattern of the file you are looking for. It can include wildcard characters like ‘*’ to match multiple files.

Example output:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
C:\Windows\System32\cmdCMDS.bat

In this example, the ‘where’ command searched for the file pattern ‘cmd’ and returned the location of two matching files.

Use case 2: Display the location of file pattern including file size and date

Code:

where /T file_pattern

Motivation:

This use case is useful when you want to not only find the location of a file, but also obtain additional information such as its size and date.

Explanation:

• ‘where’ is the command to execute the search.
• ‘/T’ is an option used to include file size and date information in the output.
• ‘file_pattern’ is the pattern of the file you are looking for.

Example output:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe        394,752  4/3/2020  10:36:06 PM
C:\Windows\System32\cmdCMDS.bat    0        12/3/2021  6:52:08 PM

In this example, the ‘where’ command searched for the file pattern ‘cmd’ and returned the location, file size, and date information for the matching files.

Use case 3: Recursively search for file pattern at specified path

Code:

where /R path\to\directory file_pattern

Motivation:

This use case is handy when you want to perform a recursive search for a file pattern within a specific directory and its subdirectories.

Explanation:

• ‘where’ is the command to execute the search.
• ‘/R’ is an option used to recursively search for the file pattern in the specified directory and its subdirectories.
• ‘path\to\directory’ is the path to the directory where the search should start.
• ‘file_pattern’ is the pattern of the file you are looking for.

Example output:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
C:\Windows\System32\cmdCMDS.bat
C:\Windows\Temp\cmd.exe

In this example, the ‘where’ command recursively searched for the file pattern ‘cmd’ starting from the directory ‘C:\Windows’ and returned the location of all matching files found in the specified path and its subdirectories.

Use case 4: Silently return the error code for the location of the file pattern

Code:

where /Q file_pattern

Motivation:

This use case is useful when you want to check if a file with a certain pattern exists without displaying any output. It allows you to retrieve the error code to determine if the file was found or not.

Explanation:

• ‘where’ is the command to execute the search.
• ‘/Q’ is an option used to run the command silently without displaying any output, except for the error code.
• ‘file_pattern’ is the pattern of the file you are looking for.

Example output:

ERROR: The system cannot find the file specified.

In this example, the ‘where’ command searched for the file pattern ‘file_not_found’ and, since it was not found, returned an error message indicating that the file was not found.

Conclusion:

The ‘where’ command is a versatile tool for quickly locating files in the Windows operating system. With its various options, it allows you to perform searches based on file patterns, retrieve additional information about the files, perform recursive searches within specified directories, and check for the existence of files silently. Incorporate the ‘where’ command into your workflow to enhance your file searching capabilities on Windows.