apt-cache

Search for a package in your current sources

$ apt-cache search [query]

$ apt-cache show [package]

$ apt-cache policy [package]

$ apt-cache depends [package]

$ apt-cache rdepends [package]

apt-cache [options] command [arguments]

apt-cache is a query tool for the APT package cache. It performs a variety of operations on APT's package cache and can search for packages, show package information, and display dependency relationships.

search query

Search for packages matching the query in names and descriptions

Show detailed information about a package

Show general information about a package

Show policy settings and installation status

Show dependencies for a package

Show reverse dependencies (packages that depend on this one)

List all package names in the cache

Show cache statistics

Show a short listing of every package in the cache

Print full records when searching

Only search package names, not descriptions

This tool operates on the local cache; run apt update first to ensure the cache is current.

Part of the APT (Advanced Package Tool) suite developed for Debian-based systems in the late 1990s.

apt(8), apt-get(8), dpkg(1)