Home » Remote Investing Insights » How Can I Check If a Program Exists from a Bash Script?

How Can I Check If a Program Exists from a Bash Script?

Sophia Al-Mansoor • • 15 min read
How Can I Check If a Program Exists from a Bash Script?

How would I validate that a program exists, in a way that will either return an error and exit, or continue with the script?

It seems like it should be easy, but it's been stumping me.

3

39 Answers

1
2

Answer

POSIX compatible:

command -v <the_command>

Example use:

if ! command -v <the_command> &> /dev/null
then
    echo "<the_command> could not be found"
    exit
fi

For Bash specific environments:

hash <the_command> # For regular commands. Or...
type <the_command> # To check built-ins and keywords
Sophia Al-Mansoor
Author

Sophia Al-Mansoor

Sophia analyzes international trade, startup ecosystems, retail transformation, and supply chain logistics for modern digital publications.