Type command in Linux

The type command in Linux is very useful for getting brief information about command. Actually there are two types of commands in Linux i.e. Internal Commands and External Commands. Type command comes under the internal command category.

The type command indicates how each name operand would be interpreted if used as a command. Type displays information about each operand identifying the operand as a shell built-in, function, alias, hashed command, or keyword, and where applicable, may display the operand's path name.

Type command's syntax:

type command Name

{machindra:root} type ls

ls is hashed (/usr/bin/ls)

ls command is hashed command. Now we will check for cd command.

{machindra:root} type cd

cd is a shell builtin

If output of type command is shell bulletin then it is an internal command. Feature of Internal command is that they are independent to run. No need to load any program associated with that command. That's why execution speed of internal commands is very low as compared to external commands.