How to List Installed Packages on Linux

Josh Sherman
1 min read
Command-line Interface Arch Linux Debian / Ubuntu

Originally I was going to talk about how to list installed packages on my desktop distro of choice, Arch Linux. Then I remembered that not everybody is as enlightened as I am, so I should probably cover other distributions as well ;)

And really, it’s really not a distro-centric situation, it’s more about which package manager you’re currently running. I’ve broken things out by package manager and listed which Linux distributions would be applicable.

Also, obviously the following list isn’t all encompassing as it only includes five package managers that I’ve hand selected mostly based on my own bias of which Linux distros I check out from time to time.

If you’re deeply offended that I didn’t include your favorite disto, comment below. Bonus points if you include how to list the installed packages!

pacman - Arch Linux, Majaro, Antergos

pacman -Q

Also, generally works the same with AUR wrappers like yay (my choice these days), pacaur, pikaur, and yaourt.

apt / dpkg - Debian, Ubuntu, MX Linux, Mint, elementary

dpkg -l

yum / dnf - Fedora, CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux

rpm -qa

zypper - openSUSE, openSUSE Tumbleweed

zypper search -is

pkgtools / slackpkg - Slackware

Couldn’t leave the Linux distro that I started with off of the list!

ls /var/log/packages/
Join the Conversation

Good stuff? Want more?

Weekly emails about technology, development, and sometimes sauerkraut.

100% Fresh, Grade A Content, Never Spam.

About Josh

Husband. Father. Pug dad. Musician. Founder of Holiday API, Head of Engineering and Emoji Specialist at Mailshake, and author of the best damn Lorem Ipsum Library for PHP.

Currently Reading

Parasie Eve

Previous Reads

Buy Me a Coffee Become a Sponsor

Related Articles