Ubuntu Manpage: dpkg-query - a tool to query the dpkg database

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 Multi-Arch same 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, with the same order as specified on
the argument list.

-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, with the
same order as specified on the argument list. However, note that files created by
package-specific installation-scripts are not listed.

--control-list package-name
List control files installed to your system from package-name. These can be used
as input arguments to --control-show.

--control-show package-name control-file
Print the control-file installed to your system from package-name to the standard
output.

-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 deprecated, please switch to use --control-list
and --control-show instead.

-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, with the same order as specified on the argument list.

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.

-?, --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.

       --load-avail
              Also  load  the available file when using the --show and --list commands, which now
              default to only querying the status file.

       -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  recognized  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
                  Pre-Depends
                  Priority
                  Provides
                  Recommends
                  Replaces
                  Revision (obsolete)
                  Section
                  Size (internal, front-end related)
                  Source
                  Status (internal)
                  Suggests
                  Tag (usually not in .deb but in repository Packages files)
                  Triggers-Awaited (internal)
                  Triggers-Pending (internal)
                  Version

              The following are virtual fields, generated by dpkg-query from  values  from  other
              fields (note that these do not use valid names for fields in control files):

                  binary:Package
                  binary:Summary
                  db:Status-Abbrev
                  source:Package
                  source:Version

              The  default  format  string  is  “${binary:Package}\t${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. binary:Package is a special field that will print the package name with an
              architecture  qualifier  (like "libc6:amd64") if the package has a Multi-Arch field
              with a value of same, and as such its name could be ambiguous.  To get the name  of
              the dpkg maintainer and the installed version, you could run:

                dpkg-query -W -f='${binary:Package} ${Version}\t${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.