Why doesn't the 'where' command display any output when running in PowerShell?

Question

When I run where in CMD, I get output:

C:\Users\Ragesh> where calc
C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe

But the same thing in PS:

PS C:\data\code> where calc
PS C:\data\code>

Where's the output going?!

Answer 1

The following worked for me:

PS C:\Users\Bill> where.exe calc
C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe

When you type where in PS, it is not same as executing where.exe

PS C:\Users\Bill> where  <press ENTER>

cmdlet Where-Object at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
Property:

So when you type where calc it is executing Where-Object calc (the alias of Where-Object is where and ?) and thus returns nothing, and not executing where.exe calc.

You can use the Get-Command (alias gcm) cmdlet instead of where.exe. Here is an example function to make Get-Command function exactly like where.exe. If you put this in your PowerShell profile it will always be available in your session.

function which ($command) {
    Get-Command -Name $command -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | 
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty Path -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}

The following links may be useful -

Equivalent of *Nix 'which' command in Powershell?

https://superuser.com/questions/34492/powershell-equivalent-to-unix-which-command

Hope this helps.