"apt list" - List Software Packages

Ubuntu Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟"apt list" - List Software Packages

This section provides a tutorial example on how to use the 'apt list' command to display software packages installed or available for Ubuntu computer.

The first command you want to try with APT is "apt list", which searches and displays software packages available in Ubuntu repositories.

1. List all available software packages, about 83,029 of them as of January 2026.

herong$ apt list 

Listing...
0ad/bionic 0.0.22-4 amd64
0ad-data/bionic,bionic 0.0.22-1 all
0ad-data-common/bionic,bionic 0.0.22-1 all
0install/bionic 2.12.3-1 amd64
0install-core/bionic 2.12.3-1 amd64
0xffff/bionic 0.7-2 amd64
2048-qt/bionic 0.1.6-1build1 amd64
2ping/bionic-updates,bionic-updates 4.1-1ubuntu1 all
2to3/bionic-updates,bionic-updates 3.6.7-1~18.04 all
... 
zenity/bionic,now 3.28.1-1 amd64 [installed]
zenity-common/bionic,bionic,now 3.28.1-1 all [installed]
zip/bionic,now 3.0-11build1 amd64 [installed]

herong$ apt list | wc -l 
83029

2. List all software packages that installed on my computer, about 1,961 of them.

herong$ apt list --installed 
Listing...
accountsservice/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 0.6.45-1ubuntu1.3 ...
acl/bionic,now 2.2.52-3build1 amd64 [installed]
acpi-support/bionic,now 0.142 amd64 [installed]
acpid/bionic,now 1:2.0.28-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed]
adb/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 1:8.1.0+r23-5~18.04 amd64 [installed]
adduser/bionic,bionic,now 3.116ubuntu1 all [installed]
adium-theme-ubuntu/bionic,bionic,now 0.3.4-0ubuntu4 all [installed]
adwaita-icon-theme/bionic,bionic,now 3.28.0-1ubuntu1 all [installed]
aisleriot/bionic,now 1:3.22.5-1 amd64 [installed]
...

herong$ apt list --installed | wc -l 
1961

3. List installed package related to Python by a filter pattern.

herong$ apt list --installed python*
Listing...
python/bionic,now 2.7.15~rc1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
python-apt-common/bionic-updates,bionic-updates,now 1.6.6 all [installed]
python-backports.functools-lru-cache/bionic,bionic,now 1.4-2 all [...
python-crypto/bionic,now 2.6.1-8ubuntu2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
python-cycler/bionic,bionic,now 0.10.0-1 all [installed,automatic]
python-dateutil/bionic,bionic,now 2.6.1-1 all [installed,automatic]
python-gi/bionic-updates,now 3.26.1-2ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
python-ldb/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 2:1.2.3-1ubuntu0.2 amd64 [...
python-matplotlib/bionic,now 2.1.1-2ubuntu3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
...

4. List all software package that are upgradable.

herong$ apt list --upgradable 
Listing...
python3-update-manager/bionic-updates,bionic-updates 1:18.04.13.1 all 
  [upgradable from: 1:18.04.11.10]
ubuntu-advantage-tools/bionic-updates,bionic-updates 37.1ubuntu0~18.04 all 
  [upgradable from: 36ubuntu0~18.04]
ubuntu-pro-client/bionic-updates 37.1ubuntu0~18.04 amd64 
  [upgradable from: 36ubuntu0~18.04]
ubuntu-pro-client-l10n/bionic-updates 37.1ubuntu0~18.04 amd64 
  [upgradable from: 36ubuntu0~18.04]
...

Note that output of "apt list" command uses the following format:

{package}/{repositories} {version} {architecture} [{status}]

For example, you should read the following output line as:

python/bionic,now 2.7.15~rc1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]

where: 
  python - Name of the software package.
  bionic,now - Names of repositories where the package is located 
    "bionic" holds packages for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver).
    "now" holds packages for the latest Ubuntu release. 
  2.7.15~rc1-1 - Release number of the package. 
  amd64 - Architecture supported by the package. 
  [installed,automatic] - Status of the package.
    Automatically installed on my computer.