Ubuntu – How to make a wildcard package search using apt-get

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With yum it was simple: yum list *xxx* but this does not work with apt-get.

How can I do a search like this?

Also, how do I see what package provides a specific command?

If you wish to search a specific string only in package names, you can do:

apt-cache search --names-only 'xxx'

This will return anything that contains 'xxx' in their package name.

apt-cache search --names-only 'php5$'

This will return any package with their name ending in php5.

Regular expressions can also be used without the --names-only. See apt-cache(8) man page.

Aptitude can help you when you initially install the package:

aptitude install "zlib1g-dev&M"

Or, after your have installed the package:

aptitude markauto "zlib1g"

Edit: If you do not have aptitude, you can use

apt-mark auto zlib1g-dev

Note: in the following commands, a command beginning with 'root#' means it needs to be run as root.

To find which files were installed by a package, use dpkg -L:

$ dpkg -L $package

apt-file can tell you which files will be installed by a package before installing it:

root# apt-get install apt-file
root# apt-file update
$ apt-file list $package

Or if you have the package as a .deb file locally already, you can run dpkg on it:

$ dpkg --contents $package.deb

To find which package provides a file that is already on your system, use:

$ dpkg -S /path/to/file

To find which package provides a file that is not currently on your system, use apt-file again:

$ apt-file search /path/to/file