How To Search For An Exact Package Name APT Cache Search?

You are at the right place if you are looking for How To Search For An Exact Package Name APT Cache Search? To search for packages on Ubuntu, we’ll use the apt-cache search command. Depending on the Linux distribution, the package name for the same software program may be different. Debian-based distributions refer to the Apache Web Server package as apache2, while Red Hat and CentOS refer to it as the HTTPd package (HTTPd package).

The proper name of the package you wish to install in Ubuntu must be known before executing the apt-get install command. Suppose you want to install Java on Ubuntu, but you’re not sure what package to install.

How To Search For An Exact Package Name APT Cache Search?

Enter apt search followed by the term associated with the package name into the aptitude search box to find a package. The outcomes will be like those shown below: All there is to it is that!

If you want to find out what packages are available in your local APT files, you can use the command-line utility apt-cache. The name, description, and version of a package are all included in the package information.

You may find the local copy of Debian mirror’s apt files by going to /var/lib/apt lists/ As soon as the apt update command is run, this file gets updated. Someone searching for packages does not have to go via multiple networks to get Debian mirrors.

It depends on the repository specified in /etc/apt/sources.list and the third-party repository saved in /etc/apt/sources.list.d directory for the information source. This tool is widely used to search for packages. In this article, we’ll learn how to search for packages using the apt-cache command.

Search Packages Using APT-Cache Search

Apt-Cache is a command-line utility that searches for apt packages on Ubuntu and Debian systems. You can use apt-cache search to find any package by searching for a keyword in its name or description. It presents all of the packages that fit the search parameters in the output.

You can use APT-Cache Search to find and show information about available packages from online repositories. It can also be used to look up information on the packages that have already been installed on your system. It gathers information about packages from many sources and puts it in a local database, which is updated using the apt update command.

Type apt-cache search followed by the relevant term to Search For Packages! To accomplish so, use the following syntax:

“$ apt-cache search zfs”

You can see the precise package name, which is “zfsutils-linux,” as well as a brief description, in the result. As you can see, the list it generates is very large. The less command can be used to view output one line or one screen at a time.

“$ sudo apt-cache search zfs | less”

Similarly, if you want to install a web server but don’t remember the package name, the apt-cache search can help. In this scenario, you can use any keyword linked to the package description to find it.

For example, when I wanted to install a search engine about which I just knew that it was a Metasearch engine that protected its customers’ privacy, I found it really useful. However, because I couldn’t recall the name of that search engine, I typed in the following search term:

$ sudo apt-cache search “metasearch engine”

When the results were displayed, I discovered the required search engine name: “Searx.” After that, I simply installed it using the apt install search command.

Similarly, if we use the show flag with apt-cache, it will display basic information about the package, such as its version, size, dependencies, description, and so on. Use the display flag to get details on a certain package:

$ apt-cache show <package-name>

Conclusion

It’s as simple as that! We covered How To Search For An Exact Package Name APT Cache Search? In this post. We also learned how to search for a package using apt search and the aptitude command. I hope you’ll find it useful whenever you need to find installed or installable software on your system.

Apt search, aptitude search, apt show, and aptitude display all do the same thing, but the format of the result text varies. Apt-cache is pre-installed in the Debian/Ubuntu family. I hope that this guide was useful in finding packages in Debian/Ubuntu distributions.

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