brew-search

Search for casks and formulae using a keyword

$ brew search [keyword]

$ brew search /[regex]/

$ brew search --desc [keyword]

$ brew search --formula [keyword]

$ brew search --cask [keyword]

brew search [options] [query]

--formula, --formulae
    Search only formulae (no casks).

--cask
    Search only casks (GUI apps).

--installed
    Show only installed formulae/casks.

--deprecated
    Show only deprecated formulae/casks.

--pinned
    Show only pinned formulae.

--prefix=<PREFIX>
    Use custom Homebrew prefix.

--repo <REPO>
    Use specified repository.

--json=v1[,<fields>]
    Output JSON. Fields: name, description, homepage, versions, keg_only.

-h, --help
    Show help message.

The brew search command queries the local Homebrew repository for formulae (command-line packages) and casks (GUI apps) matching a given string. It searches names, tokens, and descriptions in the cached formula index.

Without a query, it lists all available packages. With a query like python, it shows matches such as python@3.11 or python-tk. Output is human-readable by default but supports --json for machine-parsing.

On Linux (via Homebrew on Linux), it operates similarly but uses the Linuxbrew prefix, typically $HOME/.linuxbrew. Always run brew update first for the latest index, as search is local-only—no remote queries to avoid API limits.

Ideal for discovering packages before installation with brew install. Filters like --formulae or --casks refine results, aiding package management workflows.

Local-only search; run brew update for fresh index. No fuzzy matching—exact substring required. JSON fields limited; casks may lack some.

brew search git
Lists git-related packages.

brew search --formula python
Formulae matching 'python'.

brew search --json=v1 wget
JSON output for scripting.

Introduced in Homebrew 0.1 (2009) by Max Howell. Evolved with cask support (2014); shifted to local index in 2020+ for GitHub API efficiency.

brew(1), apt-cache(8), dnf(8) search, pacman(8) -Ss