Find Application's Command and Path in Ubuntu

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Generally when an application is installed in Ubuntu, it is added to the Applications menu.

However, there are some applications which may not be added to the menu, and you need to find where they are installed in order to run them or add them to the panel for quick access.

To find an application, you need to know its exact name, and that’s what we are going to do first.

Ubuntu has a command that generates a list of all installed applications. To use it, open a Terminal window, found in Accessories menu, and enter the following command:

$ dpkg --get-selections > my_software.txt
Ubuntu Software List Command

This will create a text file named my_software.txt in your Home folder.

Open it and scroll through the long list of applications to find the app you want.

Ubuntu Software List

Once you find the app, note its full name.

Now in the case of Chromium here, you can easily run the app or create a shortcut of it by just entering the name.

Ubuntu Run Application dialog box

However, most applications won’t execute with only the name and will also require the complete path. To find the path, once again open a Terminal window and use the following command:

$ whereis chromium-browser

This will list the locations where chromium-browser is found. Since most applications are installed in the /usr/bin directory, you can copy that path from the search result and enter it in Run Application dialog box to execute your app.