File commands

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cmd:type

$ type bash
bash is hashed (/opt/bin/bash)

cmd:which

$ which bash
/opt/bin/bash

cmd:file

$ file /bin/bash
/bin/bash: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped

cmd:stat

$ stat /bin/bash
  File: "/bin/bash"
  Size: 316848       Filetype: Regular File
  Mode: (0755/-rwxr-xr-x)         Uid: (    0/    root)  Gid: (    0/    root)
Device:  3,66  Inode: 16213     Links: 1
Access: Fri Oct  5 21:11:48 2001(00000.00:01:26)
Modify: Sun Feb 27 13:44:41 2000(00586.06:28:33)
Change: Fri Dec 15 23:42:05 2000(00293.20:31:09)

difference between a file change and modification

Here's what the UNIX man page on stat has to say about the difference between a file change and a file modification:

st_mtime Time when data was last modified. Changed by the following functions: creat(), mknod(), pipe(), utime(), and write(2).

st_ctime Time when file status was last changed. Changed by the following functions: chmod(), chown(), creat(), link(2), mknod(), pipe(), unlink(2), utime(), and write().

So a modification is a change in the data, whereas a change also happens if you modify file permissions and so on.