What version do I have of ___?
You've been there...
java -v // unrecognized option
java -V // unrecognized option
java --version // unrecognized option
java --Version // unrecognized option
java -Version // unrecognized option
java -version // 1.8.0_262
There's no standard.
gcc --version
node -v
node --version
python -V
perl -v
perl --version
go version
lua -v
rustc --version
version is a simple, easily updateable script that tells you what version you are on.
version node // v14.70
version gcc // 10.1.0
version java // 1.8.0_262
version pascal // 'pascal' does not seem to be installed.
Download, put in your path.
Current version: v0.3.3
Recognized tools: 125
Q: Couldn't you just run all the different variations on an unknown command and see which one works?
A: Yes. But running various random commands on somoene else's computer and seeing what happens is not a best practice.
Q: What operating systems does this work on?
A: It should work on any *nix based system. It's been pretty thoroughly tested on versions of Linux and Macos. There will be some differences across platforms though. See the questions below.
Q: Why does it give me an error on command _____?
A: Feel free to file an issue and I'll look into it. Some tools have different variants that behave differently. For example, sed --version works fine on my Linux machine, but sed does not seem to have any version argument at all on my Mac.
Q: Why does it say I don't have a program installed when I know I do?
A: Again, some tools work differently on different systems. For example, on Linux, I can launch Firefox from the command line with firefox. But on Mac, I have to type open -a Firefox, because on Mac Firefox is not really a command line program. Instead, Firefox.app is a special folder containing the executable firefox nested a few levels deep. But since that's not in the search path, version cannot find it. If you can launch the program Foo by typing foo on the command line, then version foo should work (if it's in the list). There are no plans to make version work for Mac .app programs.