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dpkg-query

Section: dpkg suite (1)
Updated: 2011-08-14
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NAME

dpkg-query - a tool to query the dpkg database  

SYNOPSIS

dpkg-query [option...] command  

DESCRIPTION

dpkg-query is a tool to show information about packages listed in the dpkg database.  

COMMANDS

-l, --list [package-name-pattern...]

List packages matching given pattern. If no package-name-pattern is given, list all packages in /var/lib/dpkg/status, excluding the ones marked as not-installed (i.e. those which have been previously purged). Normal shell wildchars are allowed in package-name-pattern. Please note you will probably have to quote package-name-pattern to prevent the shell from performing filename expansion. For example this will list all package names starting with ``libc6'':

  dpkg-query -l 'libc6*'

The first three columns of the output show the desired action, the package status, and errors, in that order.

Desired action:

  u = Unknown
  i = Install
  h = Hold
  r = Remove
  p = Purge

Package status:

  n = Not-installed
  c = Config-files
  H = Half-installed
  U = Unpacked
  F = Half-configured
  W = Triggers-awaiting
  t = Triggers-pending
  i = Installed

Error flags:

  <empty> = (none)
  R = Reinst-required

An uppercase status or error letter indicates the package is likely to cause severe problems. Please refer to dpkg(1) for information about the above states and flags.

The output format of this option is not configurable, but varies automatically to fit the terminal width. It is intended for human readers, and is not easily machine-readable. See -W (--show) and --showformat for a way to configure the output format.

-W, --show [package-name-pattern...]

Just like the --list option this will list all packages matching the given pattern. However the output can be customized using the --showformat option. The default output format gives one line per matching package, each line having the name (extended with the architecture qualifier for foreign architecture packages) and installed version of the package, separated by a tab.

-s, --status package-name...

Report status of specified package. This just displays the entry in the installed package status database. When multiple package-name are listed, the requested status entries are separated by an empty line.

-L, --listfiles package-name...

List files installed to your system from package-name. When multiple package-name are listed, the requested lists of files are separated by an empty line. However, note that files created by package-specific installation-scripts are not listed.

-c, --control-path package-name [control-file]

List paths for control files installed to your system from package-name. If control-file is specified then only list the path for that control file if it is present. Warning: this command is semi-public, it should be used only as a last resort solution, and if no other interface is available. It might get deprecated later on if better interfaces or the current architectural deficiencies have been solved.

-S, --search filename-search-pattern...

Search for packages that own files corresponding to the given pattern. Standard shell wildchars can be used in the pattern. This command will not list extra files created by maintainer scripts, nor will it list alternatives.

-p, --print-avail package-name...

Display details about package-name, as found in /var/lib/dpkg/available. When multiple package-name are listed, the requested available entries are separated by an empty line.

Users of APT-based frontends should use apt-cache show package-name instead as the available file is only kept up-to-date when using dselect.

-h, --help

Show the usage message and exit.

--version

Show the version and exit.

 

OPTIONS

--admindir=dir

Change the location of the dpkg database. The default location is /var/lib/dpkg.

-f, --showformat=format

This option is used to specify the format of the output --show will produce. The format is a string that will be output for each package listed.

In the format string, "\" introduces escapes:

    \n  newline
    \r  carriage return
    \t  tab

"\" before any other character suppresses any special meaning of the following character, which is useful for "\" and "$".

Package information can be included by inserting variable references to package fields using the syntax "${field[;width]}". Fields are printed right-aligned unless the width is negative in which case left alignment will be used. The following fields are recognised but they are not necessarily available in the status file (only internal fields or fields stored in the binary package end up in it):

    Architecture
    Bugs
    Conffiles (internal)
    Config-Version (internal)
    Conflicts
    Breaks
    Depends
    Description
    Enhances
    Essential
    Filename (internal, front-end related)
    Homepage
    Installed-Size
    MD5sum (internal, front-end related)
    MSDOS-Filename (internal, front-end related)
    Maintainer
    Origin
    Package
    PackageSpec (virtual field)
    Pre-Depends
    Priority
    Provides
    Recommends
    Replaces
    Revision (obsolete)
    Section
    Size (internal, front-end related)
    Source
    Status (internal)
    Suggests
    Tag (usually not in the .deb but in the repository Packages files)
    Triggers-Awaited (internal)
    Triggers-Pending (internal)
    Version

The default format string is "${PackageSpec}\t${Version}\n". Actually, all other fields found in the status file (i.e. user defined fields) can be requested, too. They will be printed as-is, though, no conversion nor error checking is done on them. PackageSpec is a special field that will print the package name with an architecture qualifier (like "libc6:amd64") if the package is of a foreign architecture (an architecture that doesn't match dpkg's architecture). To get the name of the dpkg maintainer and the installed version, you could run:

  dpkg-query -W -f='${PackageSpec} ${Version}\t${Maintainer}\n' dpkg

 

EXIT STATUS

0

The requested query was successfully performed.

1

Problems were encountered while parsing the command line or performing the query, including no file or package being found (except for --control-path).

 

ENVIRONMENT

DPKG_ADMINDIR

If set and the --admindir option has not been specified, it will be used as the dpkg data directory.

COLUMNS

This setting influences the output of the --list option by changing the width of its output.

 

AUTHOR

Copyright © 2001 Wichert Akkerman

This is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or later for copying conditions. There is NO WARRANTY.  

SEE ALSO

dpkg(1).

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

COMMANDS

OPTIONS

EXIT STATUS

ENVIRONMENT

AUTHOR

SEE ALSO

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