dpkg-query
a tool to query the dpkg database
see also :
dpkg
Synopsis
dpkg-query
[option...] command
add an example, a script, a trick and tips
examples
source
which dpkg-query >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
test $?
= 0 || exit 1
dpkg-query --show '--showformat=${Status}' dpkg 2>/dev/null | grep
'^install ok' >/dev/null
source
which dpkg-query >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
test $?
= 0 || exit 1
dpkg-query --show '--showformat=${Status}' framewerk 2>/dev/null |
grep '^install ok' >/dev/null
description
dpkg-query
is a tool to show information about packages listed in the
dpkg database.
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
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.
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.
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).
see also
dpkg .