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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
<!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent"> %aptent;
<!ENTITY % aptverbatiment SYSTEM "apt-verbatim.ent"> %aptverbatiment;
<!ENTITY % aptvendor SYSTEM "apt-vendor.ent"> %aptvendor;
]>
<refentry>
<refentryinfo>
&apt-author.jgunthorpe;
&apt-author.team;
&apt-email;
&apt-product;
<!-- The last update date -->
<date>2021-09-07T00:00:00Z</date>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>apt-patterns</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<!-- Man page title -->
<refnamediv>
<refname>apt-patterns</refname>
<refpurpose>Syntax and semantics of apt search patterns</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsect1><title>Description</title>
<para>
Starting with version 2.0, <command>APT</command> provides support for
patterns, which can be used to query the apt cache for packages.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Logic patterns</title>
<para>
These patterns provide the basic means to combine other patterns into
more complex expressions, as well as <code>?true</code> and <code>?false</code>
patterns.
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term><code>?and(PATTERN, PATTERN, ...)</code></term><term><code>PATTERN PATTERN ...</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects objects where all specified patterns match.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?false</code></term><term><code>~F</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects nothing.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?not(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>!PATTERN</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects objects where PATTERN does not match.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?or(PATTERN, PATTERN, ...)</code></term><term><code>PATTERN | PATTERN | ...</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects objects where at least one of the specified patterns match.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?true</code></term><term><code>~T</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects all objects.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>(PATTERN)</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects the same as <code>PATTERN</code>, can be used to work around precedence, for example, <code>(~ramd64|~ri386)~nfoo</code></para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Narrowing patterns</title>
<para>
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term><code>?all-versions(PATTERN)</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages where all versions match PATTERN. When matching versions instead, same as PATTERN.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?any-version(PATTERN)</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects any version where the pattern matches on the version.</para>
<para>For example, while <code>?and(?version(1),?version(2))</code> matches a package which has one version containing 1 and one version containing 2, <code>?any-version(?and(?version(1),?version(2)))</code> restricts the <code>?and</code> to act on the same version.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?narrow(PATTERN...)</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects any version matching all PATTERNs, short for <code>?any-version(?and(PATTERN...))</code>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Package patterns</title>
<para>
These patterns select specific packages.
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term><code>?architecture(WILDCARD)</code></term><term><code>~rWILDCARD</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages matching the specified architecture, which may contain wildcards using any.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?automatic</code></term><term><code>~M</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages that were installed automatically.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?broken</code></term><term><code>~b</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages that have broken dependencies.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?config-files</code></term><term><code>~c</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages that are not fully installed, but have solely residual configuration files left.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?essential</code></term><term><code>~E</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages that have Essential: yes set in their control file.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?exact-name(NAME)</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages with the exact specified name.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?garbage</code></term><term><code>~g</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages that can be removed automatically.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?installed</code></term><term><code>~i</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages that are currently installed.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?name(REGEX)</code></term><term><code>~nREGEX</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages where the name matches the given regular expression.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?obsolete</code></term><term><code>~o</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages that no longer exist in repositories.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?upgradable</code></term><term><code>~U</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects packages that can be upgraded (have a newer candidate).</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?virtual</code></term><term><code>~v</code></term>
<listitem><para>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.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Version patterns</title>
<para>
These patterns select specific versions of a package.
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term><code>?archive(REGEX)</code></term><term><code>~AREGEX</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions that come from the archive that matches the specified regular expression. Archive, here, means the values after <code>a=</code> in <command>apt-cache policy</command>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?codename(REGEX)</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions that come from the codename that matches the specified regular expression. Codename, here, means the values after <code>n=</code> in <command>apt-cache policy</command>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?origin(REGEX)</code></term><term><code>~OREGEX</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions that come from the origin that matches the specified regular expression. Origin, here, means the values after <code>o=</code> in <command>apt-cache policy</command>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?section(REGEX)</code></term><term><code>~sREGEX</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions where the section matches the specified regular expression.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?source-package(REGEX)</code></term><term><code>~eREGEX</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions where the source package name matches the specified regular expression.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?source-version(REGEX)</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions where the source package version matches the specified regular expression.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?version(REGEX)</code></term><term><code>~VREGEX</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions where the version string matches the specified regular expression.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>?priority(NAME)</code></term><term><code>~pNAME</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions where the Priority string equals the given name.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>Package relationship patterns</title>
<para>These patterns match specific package versions that depend/conflict with some other packages.</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><code>?depends(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>~DPATTERN</code></term>
<term><code>?pre-depends(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>~DPre-Depends:PATTERN</code></term>
<term><code>?suggests(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>~DSuggests:PATTERN</code></term>
<term><code>?conflicts(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>~DConflicts:PATTERN</code></term>
<term><code>?replaces(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>~DReplaces:PATTERN</code></term>
<term><code>?obsoletes(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>~DObsoletes:PATTERN</code></term>
<term><code>?breaks(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>~DBreaks:PATTERN</code></term>
<term><code>?enhances(PATTERN)</code></term><term><code>~DEnhances:PATTERN</code></term>
<listitem><para>Selects versions depending/pre-depending/suggesting/conflicting/etc on/with/ packages matching PATTERN.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><code>?reverse-<replaceable>depType</replaceable>(PATTERN)</code></term>
<term><code>~R<replaceable>DepType</replaceable>:PATTERN</code></term>
<listitem><para>Opposite of <code>?depends</code> and friends - selects all packages that have reverse-dependencies (versions) matching PATTERN.</para>
<para><replaceable>depType</replaceable> is one of the dependency types such as <code>depends</code>, so that we don't have to repeat the entire list from the first paragraph here.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>Examples</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term><code>apt remove ?garbage</code></term>
<listitem><para>Remove all packages that are automatically installed and no longer needed - same as apt autoremove</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>apt purge ?config-files</code></term>
<listitem><para>Purge all packages that only have configuration files left</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><code>apt list '~i !~M (~slibs|~sperl|~spython)'</code></term>
<listitem><para>List all manually-installed packages in sections matching libs, perl, or python.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>Migrating from aptitude</title>
<para>
Patterns in apt are heavily inspired by patterns in aptitude, but with some tweaks:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Syntax is uniform: If there is an opening parenthesis after a term, it is always assumed to be the beginning of an argument list.
</para>
<para>
In aptitude, a syntactic form <code>"?foo(bar)"</code> could mean <code>"?and(?foo,bar)"</code> if foo does not take an argument. In APT, this will cause an error.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Not all patterns are supported.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Some additional patterns are available, for example, for finding gstreamer codecs.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Escaping terms with <code>~</code> is not supported.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>A trailing comma is allowed in argument lists</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>?narrow accepts infinite arguments</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><code>foo</code> cannot be used as a shortform for <code>?name(foo)</code>, as this can cause typos to go unnoticed:
Consider <code>?and(...,~poptional)</code>:
this requires the package to have <code>required</code> priority, but
if you do not type the <code>~</code>, it would require the package name to contain <code>poptional</code>.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Grouping patterns with <code>(...)</code> or writing <code>?or(A,B)</code> as <code>A|B</code> are not supported. We
do not believe that the use of <code>|</code> is that common, and the grouping is not necessary without it.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Dependency types for ~D and related operators need to be specified in the canonical case.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>See Also</title>
<para>
&apt-get;, &apt;
</para>
</refsect1>
&manbugs;
&manauthor;
</refentry>
|
