External command in PowerShell - where Java

Question

This works in command prompt:

where Java

In PowerShell where is an alias for Where-Object . I tried to stop parsing:

--% where Java

This does not work, also tried storing as a variable:

$StopParser = "--%"
$StopParser where Java

This returns the error: 'Unexpected token 'where' in expression or statement'.

How can I use the where command in PowerShell?

Answer 1

This isn't a question of parsing, but of command origins. The where cmd command is an executable in System32 that searches your current directory and the PATH environment variable for a pattern:

WHERE Java

is equivalent to:

cmd.exe /C where.exe Java

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The link I provided shows an equivalent command for powershell :

(Get-Command -Name $file).Definition

or you can alternatively call the executable the same way:

where.exe Java

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For quite a few cmd tools, this is the same paradigm: an executable in System32.