# dpkg-query

## 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 all known packages matching one or more patterns,
               regardless of their status, which includes any real or virtual
               package referenced in any dependency relationship field (such
               as **Breaks** , **Enhances** , etc.).  If no _package-name-pattern_ is
               given, list all packages in _/usr/local/var/lib/dpkg/status_ ,
               excluding the ones marked as not-installed (i.e.  those which
               have been previously purged).  Normal shell wildcard
               characters 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 patterns.  However the output can be
               customized using the **--showformat** option.
    
               The default output format gives one line per matching package,
               each line consisting of the package name and its installed
               version, separated by a tab.  The package name will be
               architecture qualified for packages with a **Multi-Arch** field
               with the value **same** or with a foreign architecture, which is
               an architecture that is neither the native one nor **all**.
    
           **-s** , **--status**[_package-name_...]
               Report status of specified packages.  This just displays the
               entry in the installed package status database.  If no
               _package-name_ is specified it will display all package entries
               in the status database (since dpkg 1.19.1).  When multiple
               _package-name_ entries 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_ s are listed, the requested lists of
               files are separated by an empty line, with the same order as
               specified on the argument list.
    
               Each file diversion is printed on its own line after its
               diverted file, prefixed with one of the following localized
               strings:
    
                 locally diverted to: _diverted-to_
                 package diverts others to: _diverted-to_
                 diverted by _pkg_ to: _diverted-to_
    
               **Hint** : When machine parsing the output, it is customary to set
               the locale to **C.UTF-8** to get reproducible results.  On some
               systems this might also require adapting the **LANGUAGE**
               environment variable appropriately if it is already set (see
               locale(7)).
    
               This command will not list extra files created by maintainer
               scripts, nor will it list alternatives.
    
           **--control-list** _package-name_
               List control files installed to your system from _package-name_
               (since dpkg 1.16.5).  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 (since dpkg 1.16.5).
    
           **-c** , **--control-path** _package-name_ [_control-file_]
               List paths for control files installed to your system from
               _package-name_ (since dpkg 1.15.4).  If _control-file_ is
               specified then only list the path for that control file if it
               is present.
    
               **Warning** : This command is deprecated as it gives direct access
               to the internal dpkg database, please switch to use
               **--control-list** and **--control-show** instead for all cases where
               those commands might give the same end result.  Although, as
               long as there is still at least one case where this command is
               needed (i.e. when having to remove a damaging postrm
               maintainer script), and while there is no good solution for
               that, this command will not get removed.
    
           **-S** , **--search** _filename-search-pattern_...
               Search for packages that own files corresponding to the given
               patterns.  Standard shell wildcard characters can be used in
               the pattern, where asterisk (*****) and question mark (**?**) will
               match a slash, and backslash (**\**) will be used as an escape
               character.
    
               If the first character in the _filename-search-pattern_ is none
               of ‘***[?/** ’ then it will be considered a substring match and
               will be implicitly surrounded by ‘***** ’ (as in
               *****_filename-search-pattern_*****).  If the subsequent string contains
               any of ‘***[?\** ’, then it will handled like a glob pattern,
               otherwise any trailing ‘**/** ’ or ‘**/.** ’ will be removed and a
               literal path lookup will be performed.
    
               This command will not list extra files created by maintainer
               scripts, nor will it list alternatives.
    
               The output format consists of one line per matching pattern,
               with a list of packages owning the pathname separated by a
               comma (U+002C ‘**,** ’) and a space (U+0020 ‘ ’), followed by a
               colon (U+003A ‘**:** ’) and a space, followed by the pathname.  As
               in:
    
                 pkgname1, pkgname2: pathname1
                 pkgname3: pathname2
    
               File diversions are printed with the following localized
               strings:
    
                 diversion by _pkgname_ from: _diverted-from_
                 diversion by _pkgname_ to: _diverted-to_
    
               or for local diversions:
    
                 local diversion from: _diverted-from_
                 local diversion to: _diverted-to_
    
               **Hint** : When machine parsing the output, it is customary to set
               the locale to **C.UTF-8** to get reproducible results.
    
           **-p** , **--print-avail**[_package-name_...]
               Display details about packages, as found in
               _/usr/local/var/lib/dpkg/available_.  If no _package-name_ is
               specified, it will display all package entries in the
               _available_ database (since dpkg 1.19.1).  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 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 _/usr/local/var/lib/dpkg_.
    
           **--root=**_directory_
               Set the root directory to _directory_ , which sets the
               administrative directory to « _directory_ /usr/local/var/lib/dpkg»
               (since dpkg 1.21.0).
    
           **--load-avail**
               Also load the available file when using the **--show** and **--list**
               commands, which now default to only querying the status file
               (since dpkg 1.16.2).
    
           **--no-pager**
               Disables the use of any pager when showing information (since
               dpkg 1.19.2).
    
           **-f** , **--showformat=**_format_
               This option is used to specify the format of the output **--show**
               will produce (short option since dpkg 1.13.1).  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 _field_ s 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**
               **Description-md5**(internal, front-end related)
               **Enhances**
               **Protected**
               **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**
               **SHA1**(internal, front-end related)
               **SHA256**(internal, front-end related)
               **SHA512**(internal, front-end related)
               **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**
                   It contains the binary package name with a possible
                   architecture qualifier like “libc6:amd64” (since dpkg
                   1.16.2).  An architecture qualifier will be present to
                   make the package name unambiguous, for packages with a
                   **Multi-Arch** field with the value **same** or with a foreign
                   architecture, which is an architecture that is neither the
                   native one nor **all**.
    
               **binary:Synopsis**
                   It contains the package short description (since dpkg
                   1.19.1).
    
               **binary:Summary**
                   This is an alias for **binary:Synopsis**(since dpkg 1.16.2).
    
               **db:Status-Abbrev**
                   It contains the abbreviated package status (as three
                   characters), such as “ii ” or “iHR” (since dpkg 1.16.2).
                   See the **--list** command description for more details.
    
               **db:Status-Want**
                   It contains the package wanted status, part of the Status
                   field (since dpkg 1.17.11).
    
               **db:Status-Status**
                   It contains the package status word, part of the Status
                   field (since dpkg 1.17.11).
    
               **db:Status-Eflag**
                   It contains the package status error flag, part of the
                   Status field (since dpkg 1.17.11).
    
               **db-fsys:Files**
                   It contains the list of the package filesystem entries
                   separated by newlines (since dpkg 1.19.3).
    
               **db-fsys:Last-Modified**
                   It contains the timestamp in seconds of the last time the
                   package filesystem entries were modified (since dpkg
                   1.19.3).
    
               **source:Package**
                   It contains the source package name for this binary
                   package (since dpkg 1.16.2).
    
               **source:Version**
                   It contains the source package version for this binary
                   package (since dpkg 1.16.2)
    
               **source:Upstream-Version**
                   It contains the source package upstream version for this
                   binary package (since dpkg 1.18.16)
    
               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.  To get the
               name of the **dpkg** maintainer and the installed version, you
               could run:
    
                dpkg-query -f='${binary:Package} ${Version}\t${Maintainer}\n' \
                 -W dpkg
    


## EXIT STATUS



           **0** The requested query was successfully performed.
    
           **1** The requested query failed either fully or partially, due to
               no file or package being found (except for **--control-path** ,
               **--control-list** and **--control-show** were such errors are fatal).
    
           **2** Fatal or unrecoverable error due to invalid command-line
               usage, or interactions with the system, such as accesses to
               the database, memory allocations, etc.
    


## ENVIRONMENT



       **External environment**
           **SHELL**
               Sets the program to execute when spawning a command via a
               shell (since dpkg 1.19.2).
    
           **PAGER**
           **DPKG_PAGER**
               Sets the pager command to use (since dpkg 1.19.1), which will
               be executed with «**$SHELL -c** ».  If **SHELL** is not set, «**sh** » will
               be used instead.
    
               The **DPKG_PAGER** overrides the **PAGER** environment variable (since
               dpkg 1.19.2).  If none of the programs pointed by **DPKG_PAGER**
               or **PAGER** are present, the following programs will be tried in
               order (since dpkg 1.22.12): the default pager **less** , then **less** ,
               **more** , and finally **cat**.
    
           **DPKG_ROOT**
               If set and the **--root** option has not been specified, it will
               be used as the filesystem root directory (since dpkg 1.21.0).
    
           **DPKG_ADMINDIR**
               If set and the **--admindir** option has not been specified, it
               will be used as the **dpkg** data directory.
    
           **DPKG_DEBUG**
               Sets the debug mask (since dpkg 1.21.10) from an octal value.
               The currently accepted flags are described in the **dpkg --debug**
               option, but not all these flags might have an effect on this
               program.
    
           **DPKG_COLORS**
               Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5).  The currently
               accepted values are: **auto**(default), **always** and **never**.
    
           **DPKG_NLS**
               If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native
               Language Support, also known as internationalization (or i18n)
               support (since dpkg 1.22.7).  The accepted values are: **0** and **1**
               (default).
    
       **Internal environment**
           **LESS**
               Defined by **dpkg-query** to “**-FRSXMQ** ”, if not already set, when
               spawning a pager (since dpkg 1.19.2).  To change the default
               behavior, this variable can be preset to some other value
               including an empty string, or the **PAGER** or **DPKG_PAGER**
               variables can be set to disable specific options with «**-+** »,
               for example **DPKG_PAGER="less -+F"**.
    


## SECURITY



           Query operations should never require root, and delegating their
           execution to unprivileged users via some gain-root command can
           have security implications (such as privilege escalation), for
           example when a pager is automatically invoked by the tool.
    


* * *