TYPE(1)

💅 TYPE(1) — the fish-shell glow-up

okay so bestie, welcome to type(1) from fish-shell — this is the fish builtin, and she's the one who tells you what a command actually is. Let's get into it ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

type — locate a command and describe its type. literally her whole job, and she ate 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

type [OPTIONS] NAME [...]

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

⚠️ read this first, bestie: this page documents the fish builtin type. If you wanna see the docs for any non-fish version, run command man type. iykyk 🙈

With no options, type tells you how each NAME would be interpreted if you used it as a command name. that's it. that's the vibe check 👑

The following options are available, and yes we're going through all of them 🫶

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -a, --all — prints all of the possible definitions of the specified names. all of them, not just the first one she finds 💖
• -s, --short — don't print function definitions when used with no options or with -a/--all. keeps it cute and brief 🎀
• -f, --no-functions — suppresses function lookup. functions? not invited to this party 🚫
• -t, --type — prints function, builtin, or file if NAME is a shell function, builtin, or disk file, respectively. one lil word, maximum clarity ⭐
• -p, --path — prints the path to NAME if NAME resolves to an executable file in PATH <#envvar-PATH>, the path to the script containing the definition of the function NAME if NAME resolves to a function loaded from a file on disk (i.e. not interactively defined at the prompt), or nothing otherwise. yes she's thorough like that 🔥
• -P, --force-path — returns the path to the executable file NAME, presuming NAME is found in the PATH <#envvar-PATH> environment variable, or nothing otherwise. --force-path explicitly resolves only the path to executable files in PATH <#envvar-PATH>, regardless of whether NAME is shadowed by a function or builtin with the same name. no shadowing drama, she's looking at the filesystem and only the filesystem 💀
• -q, --query — suppresses all output; this is useful when testing the exit status. for compatibility with old fish versions this is also --quiet. silent but observant 🤫
• --color WHEN — controls when to use syntax highlighting colors when printing function definitions. WHEN can be auto (the default, colorize if the output is a terminal <>) , always, or never. aesthetic decisions are important 🌈
• -h, --help — displays help about using this command. the classic 🫶

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💀 the mutual exclusivity bit (important!!)

The -q, -p, -t and -P flags (and their long flag aliases) are mutually exclusive. Only one can be specified at a time. pick a lane bestie, she can't do all four 😭

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👑 EXIT STATUS 👑

type returns 0 if at least one entry was found, 1 otherwise, and 2 for invalid options or option combinations.

🚨 so like, 2 is the "girl what did you even type" code. don't be that person.

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🌟 EXAMPLE 🌟

>_ type fg
fg is a builtin

see? iconic. instant clarity. no notes 🧚

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💜 Copyright 💜

fish-shell developers — appreciate them fr fr 🫶

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! ✨ remember: this is the fish builtin, use command man type for the other ones, and one mutually-exclusive flag at a time please 🎀

fish-shell — version 4.9 — dated Sep 08, 2026 💅 mwah, go describe some commands 🦋