APT-PATTERNS(7) APT APT-PATTERNS(7)
NAME
apt-patterns - Syntax and semantics of apt search patterns
DESCRIPTION
Starting with version 2.0, APT provides support for patterns, which can
be used to query the apt cache for packages.
LOGIC PATTERNS
These patterns provide the basic means to combine other patterns into
more complex expressions, as well as ?true and ?false patterns.
?and(PATTERN, PATTERN, ...), PATTERN PATTERN ...
Selects objects where all specified patterns match.
?false, ~F
Selects nothing.
?not(PATTERN), !PATTERN
Selects objects where PATTERN does not match.
?or(PATTERN, PATTERN, ...), PATTERN | PATTERN | ...
Selects objects where at least one of the specified patterns match.
?true, ~T
Selects all objects.
(PATTERN)
Selects the same as PATTERN, can be used to work around precedence,
for example, (~ramd64|~ri386)~nfoo
NARROWING PATTERNS
?all-versions(PATTERN)
Selects packages where all versions match PATTERN. When matching
versions instead, same as PATTERN.
?any-version(PATTERN)
Selects any version where the pattern matches on the version.
For example, while ?and(?version(1),?version(2)) matches a package
which has one version containing 1 and one version containing 2,
?any-version(?and(?version(1),?version(2))) restricts the ?and to
act on the same version.
?narrow(PATTERN...)
Selects any version matching all PATTERNs, short for
?any-version(?and(PATTERN...)).
PACKAGE PATTERNS
These patterns select specific packages.
?architecture(WILDCARD), ~rWILDCARD
Selects packages matching the specified architecture, which may
contain wildcards using any.
?automatic, ~M
Selects packages that were installed automatically.
?broken, ~b
Selects packages that have broken dependencies.
?config-files, ~c
Selects packages that are not fully installed, but have solely
residual configuration files left.
?essential, ~E
Selects packages that have Essential: yes set in their control
file.
?exact-name(NAME)
Selects packages with the exact specified name.
?garbage, ~g
Selects packages that can be removed automatically.
?installed, ~i
Selects packages that are currently installed. Since version 2.5.4,
narrowing this pattern (see narrowing patterns above) makes it only
match installed versions (see version patterns below).
?name(REGEX), ~nREGEX
Selects packages where the name matches the given regular
expression.
?obsolete, ~o
Selects packages that no longer exist in repositories.
?upgradable, ~U
Selects packages that can be upgraded (have a newer candidate).
?virtual, ~v
Selects all virtual packages; that is packages without a version.
These exist when they are referenced somewhere in the archive, for
example because something depends on that name.
VERSION PATTERNS
These patterns select specific versions of a package.
?archive(REGEX), ~AREGEX
Selects versions that come from the archive that matches the
specified regular expression. Archive, here, means the values after
a= in apt-cache policy.
?codename(REGEX)
Selects versions that come from the codename that matches the
specified regular expression. Codename, here, means the values
after n= in apt-cache policy.
?installed, ~i
Selects package versions that are currently installed. Versions
prior to 2.5.4 only matched at the package level, hence
?any-version(?installed?version(2.0))matched even if 2.0 was not
installed, but another version was.
?origin(REGEX), ~OREGEX
Selects versions that come from the origin that matches the
specified regular expression. Origin, here, means the values after
o= in apt-cache policy.
?section(REGEX), ~sREGEX
Selects versions where the section matches the specified regular
expression.
?source-package(REGEX), ~eREGEX
Selects versions where the source package name matches the
specified regular expression.
?source-version(REGEX)
Selects versions where the source package version matches the
specified regular expression.
?version(REGEX), ~VREGEX
Selects versions where the version string matches the specified
regular expression.
?priority(NAME), ~pNAME
Selects versions where the Priority string equals the given name.
PACKAGE RELATIONSHIP PATTERNS
These patterns match specific package versions that depend/conflict
with some other packages.
?depends(PATTERN), ~DPATTERN, ?pre-depends(PATTERN),
~DPre-Depends:PATTERN, ?suggests(PATTERN), ~DSuggests:PATTERN,
?conflicts(PATTERN), ~DConflicts:PATTERN, ?replaces(PATTERN),
~DReplaces:PATTERN, ?obsoletes(PATTERN), ~DObsoletes:PATTERN,
?breaks(PATTERN), ~DBreaks:PATTERN, ?enhances(PATTERN),
~DEnhances:PATTERN
Selects versions depending/pre-depending/suggesting/conflicting/etc
on/with/ packages matching PATTERN.
?reverse-depType(PATTERN), ~RDepType:PATTERN
Opposite of ?depends and friends - selects all packages that have
reverse-dependencies (versions) matching PATTERN.
depType is one of the dependency types such as depends, so that we
don't have to repeat the entire list from the first paragraph here.
EXAMPLES
apt remove ?garbage
Remove all packages that are automatically installed and no longer
needed - same as apt autoremove
apt purge ?config-files
Purge all packages that only have configuration files left
apt list '~i !~M (~slibs|~sperl|~spython)'
List all manually-installed packages in sections matching libs,
perl, or python.
MIGRATING FROM APTITUDE
Patterns in apt are heavily inspired by patterns in aptitude, but with
some tweaks:
• Syntax is uniform: If there is an opening parenthesis after a term,
it is always assumed to be the beginning of an argument list.
In aptitude, a syntactic form "?foo(bar)" could mean
"?and(?foo,bar)" if foo does not take an argument. In APT, this
will cause an error.
• Not all patterns are supported.
• Some additional patterns are available, for example, for finding
gstreamer codecs.
• Escaping terms with ~ is not supported.
• A trailing comma is allowed in argument lists
• ?narrow accepts infinite arguments
• foo cannot be used as a shortform for ?name(foo), as this can cause
typos to go unnoticed: Consider ?and(...,~poptional): this requires
the package to have required priority, but if you do not type the
~, it would require the package name to contain poptional.
• Dependency types for ~D and related operators need to be specified
in the canonical case.
SEE ALSO
apt-get(8), apt(8)
BUGS
APT bug page[1]. If you wish to report a bug in APT, please see
/usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the reportbug(1) command.
AUTHOR
APT was written by the APT team <apt@packages.debian.org>.
AUTHORS
Jason Gunthorpe
APT team
NOTES
1. APT bug page
http://bugs.debian.org/src:apt
APT 2.6.1 13 January 2023 APT-PATTERNS(7)
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