command (Unix)
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| Operating system | Unix and Unix-like |
|---|---|
| Type | Command |
command is a shell command for Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It is used to execute a command whilst suppressing normal shell function lookup.[1]
It is specified in the POSIX standard and is often implemented in Unix shells as a shell builtin function. Built-in functions take precedence over programs when resolving the name of a command. A user may suppress the lookup of built-in functions in order to execute a program with the same name as a built-in function.
The arguments passed specify the name of the command to be executed, along with its arguments. If the specified command name is the name of a shell built-in function, the command will be processed as if such function did not exist. In all other circumstances the command will be processed as normal.[2]
Examples
In the following, the ls command is run without any shell functions or aliases that may exist with the same name:
$ command ls
See also
External links
- – Shell and Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 from The Open Group
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- ^ "command - manned.org". POSIX Programmer's Manual. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
- ^ "command(1p)". Linux manual page. Retrieved 13 February 2025.