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When I put in which npm, I get /usr/local/bin/npm. When I put in command -v npm, I get /usr/bin/npm.

Why is that? What's the difference? man which says which "returns the pathnames of the filenames that would be executed in the current environment". I see that if I run which -a npm, it returns both of the paths mentioned above.

So why does it pick the first one when run without -a, while command -v npm returns the second one?

temporary_user_name
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1 Answers1

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which is an external command from the csh times that is not related to Bourne compatible shells.

As a result, it may return wrong results unless you use csh.

So better use built in shell commands...

command is a built in command from POSIX compatible shells and together with the other builtin type returns the right results for shells that are similar to the Bourne Shell.

schily
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