apt-file

May 21, 2015 ยท View on GitHub

Search files in packages that are not installed.

For installed packages, dpkg is usually the tool of choice.

very useful to know: which package provides a missing file like a bin/name or include/name.h?

sudo aptitude install apt-file
apt-file update
f=

Search for file "$F" in packages.

apt-file search "$f"

Literal full path substring match

Use Perl regex:

apt-file search -x "a.c"

Combo: search for an executable called a2x:

apt-file search bin/a2x

list

show

Shows files in package p:

apt-file list "hello"

For installed package, use dpkg -L.