pacman-f

View documentation for the original command

$ tldr pacman files

pacman -F [options] [package(s)]

-y, --refresh
    Download fresh package databases from the servers defined in pacman.conf.

-Fy, --force --refresh
    Force a refresh, even if the database is up-to-date.

-q, --quiet
    Suppress non-error messages.


    Search for files within a specific package.


    Search for a specific file across all packages.

The `pacman -F` command in Arch Linux is used to search for files within packages that are not yet installed on your system, or to refresh the package file database. It operates on the package file database, which contains a list of files provided by each available package. Using `-F` without any other arguments refreshes the entire database, ensuring the most up-to-date information is used for searching. This is particularly useful for identifying which package provides a specific file, especially when dealing with missing dependencies or troubleshooting system issues.
It is important to note that this command does not install any packages; it only searches the file database. To install a package after finding it, you would use `pacman -S `. Using the `--force` flag when refreshing the database can be helpful when dealing with corrupted or incomplete databases.

The package file database needs to be up-to-date for accurate results. If you haven't refreshed the database recently, use `pacman -Fy` first. If package names are not supplied, it will search the database of all available packages, which can be slow. The search only works against known package files, not arbitrary files.

Finding which package provides a file: `pacman -F /usr/bin/somecommand`
Refreshing the entire file database: `pacman -Fy`
Searching for files within a specific package: `pacman -F packagename`

pacman(8), pacman-S(8), pacman-Q(8)