---
id: find-exe
version: "0.2.1"
license: unclear
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: dormant
---

# find-exe — Find matching executables

License: unclear · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 75.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

find-exe is a lightweight library and command-line tool for discovering executables on a system based on search criteria. It wraps the logic of locating binaries in the system PATH and filtering them by name prefix or other matching rules, exposing both a programmatic API and a CLI interface. The package has no runtime dependencies and supports Python 3.8 through 3.13 on both CPython and PyPy implementations.

Typical use cases include scripting scenarios where you need to locate a specific executable before invoking it, or building tools that must discover system binaries dynamically. The package is small and focused, offering a simpler alternative to manual PATH searching or subprocess calls to the system's `which` command.

Use it for:

- Locate all Python executables on a system to select a specific version for a build or test process.
- Find executables matching a prefix pattern when building dynamic command invocations in a script.
- Discover system binaries in a cross-platform way without relying on shell commands like `which`.
- Programmatically check for the presence of a required tool before attempting to use it in an application.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Finds executables on the system matching specified criteria, such as by name prefix, and returns their paths as a library or via a CLI tool.

Yes, if you need lightweight executable discovery in Python. The package has no dependencies, installs cleanly, and covers a narrow but real use case. However, verify the license metadata directly from the repository before use in proprietary code, and be aware that the package is dormant—it works with current Python versions but receives infrequent updates.

## Install

pip install find-exe
uv add find-exe
poetry add find-exe

## Installing find-exe

Before you install: Installation is straightforward with no runtime dependencies. The package is dormant (last release 689 days ago) but the repository remains active with a recent commit on 2025-02-01, suggesting occasional maintenance.

License in practice: License treatment is unclear in the metadata; the description mentions MIT licensing, but SPDX and raw license fields are not populated in the package record, creating ambiguity about the actual license terms.

Quickstart:

pip install find-exe

import find_exe
results = find_exe.with_prefix("py")
print(results)

Verify before relying:

- Whether the MIT license claim in the description is authoritative or whether license metadata should be verified directly from the repository.
- Whether the package's dormant status (689 days since last release) affects its stability or compatibility with current Python versions.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (unclear)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 75.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

find executables by name, search system PATH for binaries, locate executable files, which command alternative, executable discovery library, find binaries matching pattern, system executable lookup, executable-discovery, system-tools, cli

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/find-exe) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/find-exe/)