“Most of the operations in the Linux operating system are performed by executing commands. However, at times, you are unable to run certain commands in Linux, i.e., you face different sorts of errors while executing these commands. One of the most frequently faced errors by Linux users is the Bash Command Not Found error, and it occurs whenever you try to execute a certain command, either with or without any of the available options. In this article, we will discuss some of the most common reasons that lead to this error, along with some solutions to each of these problems.”
What Does the Bash Command Not Found Error Look Like?
Assume that you are trying to check the version of the command that says “apt-fast” in our case. We have used the following command to check its version:
Due to some reason, the version command could not present its intended output; rather, it displayed the error shown in the image below:
Now, this is what the Bash Command Not Found error looks like, and below, we will be discussing the different reasons (along with their possible solutions) that are responsible for the occurrence of this error in Linux.
Reasons and Solutions of the Bash Command Not Found Error
Some of the probable causes for the occurrence of the Bash Command Not Found error, and their potential solutions are given below:
Reason # 1: Spelling Mistake
At times, whenever you are trying to run a command, you misspell it in certain ways, because of which your operating system fails to interpret what you really intend to execute. This might result in the occurrence of the Bash Command Not Found error.
Solution
The most obvious solution that you can perform is to ensure the correction of your command’s spelling. You might also look for the letter case in which you have used your command because, generally, the commands in Linux are case-sensitive. Moreover, you should also look for the incorrect spaces between commands and the different options that you are using with those commands. Apart from this, there can also be interchanging errors such as accidentally replacing “0” with “O”. Once you will ensure the correction of these things, your spelling mistake error will get fixed, which will eventually result in the resolution of the Bash Command Not Found error.
Reason # 2: Uninstalled Package
Sometimes, the package or command that you are trying to access or execute is not installed on your system. You can confirm this by running the following command:
If the specified package or command is not installed on your system, then you will get the output shown in the image below. Through this output, you can verify that the said package or command is not installed on your system, and because of this, you might be receiving the Bash Command Not Found error.
Solution
To resolve this issue, you would simply need to install the said command or package with the following command:
After installing this command, you will easily be able to use it without getting the Bash Command Not Found error on your Linux system.
Reason # 3: Incorrect Path
At times, even after installing the command on your Linux system, its path is still incorrect, i.e., the said command is not present in any of the locations that your system knows. In that case, you can receive the Bash Command Not Found error.
Solution
To fix this problem, you first need to check the path of your installed command with the following command:
After that, you need to check the value of your system’s path variable with the command shown below:
Now, you need to compare both these paths. If the path of your command is not added to the path variable of your system, then you need to add that path manually to the path variable, after which you will be able to execute your particular command without receiving the Bash Command Not Found error.
Reason # 4: Unsupported Linux Release
Finally, if you have fixed all the above-mentioned issues or you were not facing them in the first place, then it might be the case that the package or the command that you are trying to install is not supported by your particular Linux release. For example, the apt-fast command is not supported by the Linux Mint 21 Jammy Jellyfish release.
Solution
The only possible way out that you can take in this case is to use a distribution of Linux that supports your particular command and package that you are trying to execute or access. Only in that situation will you be able to avoid the Bash Command Not Found error.
Conclusion
This was an extensive guide on the Bash Command Not Found an error in the Linux operating system. We first introduced you to this error to give you its brief overview and also shared with you the way this error appears to be. After that, we discussed some reasons that can cause this error and the possible solutions that can be taken to get rid of this error. You need to go through this article in detail in order to fix the Bash Command Not Found error while working with any distribution of Linux.
