How to list Installed Packages on Linux

Today, in this article, we show how to list installed packages on linux. Client applications are used on Linux-based computers to assist with package management. Linux users can install additional software packages as needed, although some are already installed by default.

An open source operating system is Linux (OS). A system’s hardware and resources, such as CPU, memory, and storage, are directly managed by an operating system, which is software. The operating system establishes links between all your software and the physical resources at work, staying between applications and hardware.

A Linux package is nothing more than a grouping of files and related data. Almost all Linux software, including database/web servers, office programs, and web browsers, are installed using packages. Depending on your Linux distribution, the command to check if a package is installed on Linux might be different. Below are the steps to list the packages installed on Linux.

Steps to List Installed Packages on Linux

View installed packages using pacman on Arch Linux

Pac Man is the default package manager for Arch Linux and its derivatives like EndeavorOS and Manjaro Linux.

Step 1: To list all installed packages using Pac Man on Arch Linux and its variants, run:

$ pacman -Q

Step 2: If you want to view the output page by page, pipe the output to most command as below:

$pacman -Q | most

Step 3: For List only explicitly installed packages and versions:

$ pacman -Qe

Step 4: To just list the total number of packages installed on Arch Linux, pipe the Pac Man exit to Restroom command:

$pacman -Q | toilet -l134

Get list of installed packages using apk command in Alpine Linux

apkshort for Alpine Package Manager, is the default package manager for Alpine Linux.

Step 1: The command to view the list of installed packages in Alpine Linux It is:

$ apk info

Step 2: If you want to see the list of installed packages along with the version number and package description, use -vv flag as below:

$ apk info -vv

Step 3: To just list the total number of all packages installed on Alpine Linuxchannel the apk information output to Restroom command as below:

$ apk info | toilet -l86

Find installed packages using apt command on Debian, Ubuntu

apt provides a high-level command-line interface to the package management system on Debian, Ubuntu, and other Debian-based systems.

Step 1: To display the list of installed packages in Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and another DEB based systemsrun:

$ apt list – installed

Step 2: Display the total number of packages installed on Debian based systems, pipe the output of fit command to Restroom command as shown below:

$ apt list –installed | toilet -l2575

Using dpkg command on Debian, Ubuntu

dpkg is a command-line tool for installing, building, removing and managing Debian packages.

Step 1: To list all installed packages with versions and details using dpkg command, run:

$ dpkg -l

Step 2: Alternatively, you can use dpkg-query command to list all installed Debian packages.

$ dpkg-query -l

Step 3: List only the total number of packages installed on Debian based systems:

$ dpkg -l | toilet -l2668

$ dpkg-query -l | toilet -l2668

Using yum command in RHEL, Fedora, CentOS

yum, it means yellow dog Updater, Modified, is the command line management utility for installing and managing packages on Red-hat based systems. is now replaced by dnf in recent versions of RHEL and CentOS.

Step 1: To find the list of installed packages at fedora, RHEL and their clones like CentOSrun:

$yum installed list

Step 2: List only the total number of packages installed using Hmm and Restroom commands:

$yum installed list | toilet -l347

Using dnf command in RHEL, Fedora, CentOS

DNF is the next generation version of YUM and has been the default package manager since Fedora 22, RHEL 8 and CentOS 8. The use of DNF is the same as for Yum.

Step 1: To find the list of installed packages at RHEL, fedora, CentOS using dnfrun:

$ installed dnf list

Step 2: If you only want to display the total number of packages using dnf command, run:

$ installed dnf list | toilet -l

Using the zypper command in openSUSE

zip is the default command-line package manager for installing and managing packages on SUSE and openSUSE.

Step 1: To list the packages installed on openSUSE using zypperrun:

$ zypper if -only installed

Using the rpm command

RPM command, stands for Red Hat Package Manager, is used to install and manage applications from the command line on Redhat-based systems.

Step 1: to list each RPM package installed on your system, run:

$ rpm -qa

Step 2: To view the output page by page, pipe the output to most command:

$ rpm -qa | most

Step 3: You can also all installed packages with the latest on top using —last flag as below:

$ rpm -qa -last

List installed packages with snap

Photograph is a software deployment and package management system developed by Canonical.

Step 1: to list all installed instant apps on your system, run:

$ instant list

List installed packages using flatpak

flatpak is a platform-independent package management system for building, installing, and running sandboxed desktop applications and runtimes on Linux.

Step 1: To list all installed flatpak apps on Linux, run:

$ flatpak list –app

Final Words

We hope you like our article about how to lists the packages installed on Linux. An operating system can be compared to a car engine. An engine can run on its own, but only when coupled with a transmission, axles and wheels does it become a prime mover. The rest of the car will not run properly without a running engine. Although initially intended to be similar to UNIX, Linux was developed to work on a wide variety of hardware, including smartphones and supercomputers.