Find the location of executable files in Ubuntu

When you try to open a program from terminal in Ununtu, you normally do not have to type in the complete address. You just have to enter the command to the terminal and the program will be opened.

If you want to open gedit, you just need to type gedit to the terminal. But if you want to pass parameters to some apps you might need to find the actual( full) location of that executable file ( like the location of .exe file in Windows).

There is a way in Ubuntu to find the complete location of any software. You just need to know the terminal name ( standalone command with which a software can be opened) of the application. For example terminal name for VLC media player is vlc, file browser in Linux is nautilus and FlightGear Flight Simulator is fsgs.

If you know the terminal name, go to the terminal and type

which name

Where name represents the terminal name of the application.

Eg : To find the location of vlc media player, you need to type

which vlc

Below is the screenshot of the output in my laptop

You can see that the executable for VLC media player in Ubuntu is located in  /usr/bin/vlc

What if I don't know the terminal name of an executable?

Open Ubuntu Software center and type in the search box, actual name of the software you want to find the terminal name of.

For example, you want to find the terminal name of software center itself. Do a search for the term 'Ubuntu Software Center' and go to 'More Info'. There you will see the details of selected program( Software Center). locate the area where version is written (see screenshot below).

You can see some text and a version number. The text before the version number is the terminal name of Ubuntu Software Center. Here it is 'software-center'.

You can double check the terminal name by typing it to the terminal and hitting enter. If it is correct, the application will be opened