Find package name using terminal

Question

Hello I want to remove software (for example transmission) using Terminal. How can i find the package name for the software ?

Do you know about the auto-complete feature in apt-get? If you enter 'apt-get remove tra', and then press tab twice, it will show all the packages starting with tra. — sashoalm, Mar 27 '11 at 18:36
Are you sure? Have you tried with other package names, but ones you know are installed? — sashoalm, Mar 28 '11 at 06:02

score 30 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 06 '18 at 05:31

30

search for it using

apt-cache search name

like

apt-cache search transmission

gives:

conkytransmission - Transmission torrent info, for use in Conky
transgui - Remote GUI for Transmission daemon     
transmission - lightweight BitTorrent client
transmission-cli - lightweight BitTorrent client (command line interface)
transmission-common - lightweight BitTorrent client (common files)
transmission-daemon - lightweight BitTorrent client (daemon)
transmission-gtk - lightweight BitTorrent client (GTK interface)
transmission-qt - lightweight BitTorrent client (Qt interface)

at the last (the most relevant results will be at the last since it is the terminal)

edited Apr 06 '18 at 05:31

skierpage

313

answered Mar 27 '11 at 13:43

Lincity

25,371

I don't know why but the PACKAGE NAME transmission doesn't work. – vrcmr Mar 27 '11 at 13:45
1

My question was: How can I find the PACKAGE NAME of an application for further removing it by typing its name in terminal? – vrcmr Mar 27 '11 at 13:48
2

You can also try dpkg -l|grep -i transmission to locate package names associated with it. – Jamess Mar 27 '11 at 14:19
2

apt-cache search is not suitable for listing installed packages. – Takkat Mar 27 '11 at 15:41
but alfalive is asking how to find the package name so software can be installed. – Lincity Mar 27 '11 at 15:46
"remove" is not install IMO :P. Corrected a typo – Takkat Mar 27 '11 at 15:52
2

This is CRAZY!!! to many editors. Are you able to look into edit history? I should ask question and make screenshot of it. And then upload it here:) The original question was a little bit different. – vrcmr Mar 27 '11 at 23:37
1

Thanks for the help – Zedd May 30 '22 at 10:02

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 27 '11 at 15:51

To query installed packages we can use powerful search functions from DPKG package management:

dpkg-query --list 'pattern*' lists all packages that have not been purged
dpkg-query --search 'pattern*' searches for individual files installed

You can use wildcards in the search pattern to find packages when only part of the package name is known.

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 06 '18 at 11:49

4

If you're trying to remove a package

apt search transmission | grep installed

will only display installed packages

edited Apr 06 '18 at 11:49

skierpage

313

answered Oct 17 '17 at 07:17

Asdeth

41

4

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! I recommend to [edit] this answer to expand it with specific details about what this command does. A plain command or command sequence is rarely considered an answer. (See also How do I write a good answer? for general advice about what sorts of answers are considered most valuable on Ask Ubuntu.) – David Foerster Oct 17 '17 at 07:40
Best answer, replace transmission with something of the name of your app and wuolah – newalvaro9 Jun 26 '23 at 00:22

Find package name using terminal

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