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In Unix, a shell builtin is a command or a function, called from a shell, that is executed directly in the shell itself, instead of an external executable program which the shell would load and execute.

How can I tell if the command I am using is a shell builtin rather than an external program?

  • type <command_name>
staz@tokra:~/test$ type cd
cd is a shell builtin

staz@tokra:~/test$ type mkdir
mkdir is /bin/mkdir