Toolbox Aid

August 9th, 2024 12:39 PM Mr. Q Categories: Command

Command: apt-cache search

Used to search for packages available in the repositories configured on your system. This command queries the package cache and displays a list of packages that match the search criteria.

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Sample Command and Output:

$ apt-cache search nginx
nginx - high-performance web server
nginx-core - nginx core engine
nginx-full - nginx web server (standard)
nginx-light - nginx web server (light)

Description:

• apt-cache search <search_term>: Searches for packages in the APT cache that match the specified search term. In the example, nginx is used as the search term, and the command returns a list of packages related to Nginx.

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Additional Commands and Sample Outputs:

• apt-cache search <keyword>: Search for packages related to a keyword. Sample Command and Output:

  $ apt-cache search text editor
  gedit - GNOME text editor
  vim - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor
  nano - small, friendly text editor

Description:

• apt-cache search <keyword>: Searches for packages related to the specified keyword (e.g., “text editor”). The command returns a list of packages whose descriptions contain the keyword.
• apt-cache search --names-only <package_name>: Search for packages by name only. Sample Command and Output:

  $ apt-cache search --names-only python
  python - interactive high-level object-oriented language (default version)
  python3 - interactive high-level object-oriented language (version 3)

Description:

• apt-cache search --names-only <package_name>: Searches for packages by name only, ignoring descriptions. This is useful when you want to find packages with names that match the specified term.

Note: apt-cache search provides a quick way to find available packages and their descriptions. For more detailed information about a specific package, use apt-cache show <package_name>.