apt

package management system

Interactive tool for apt-get and apt-cache

apt [-h] [-o=config_string] [-c=config_file] [-t=target_release] [-a=architecture] {list | search | show | update | install pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]... | remove pkg... | upgrade | full-upgrade | edit-sources | {-v | --version} | {-h | --help}}

Provides a high-level commandline interface for the package management system. Options are better for interactive usage compared to other APT tools.

`update apt-get`	Download information. Other commands use this to perform upgrades or search and display details.
`upgrade apt-get`	Install upgrades of all packages. New packages will be installed if required to satisfy dependencies. Existing packages are not removed. An upgrade requiring removal of an installed package isn't performed.
`full-upgrade apt-get`	will remove packages if needed.
`install reinstall AmbiguousPkg remove purge apt-get`	The requested action can be overridden for specific packages by appending a plus to the name to install or a minus to remove. `AmbiguousPkg` is resolved using regex, glob or exact match. A specific version can be selected for installation by following the name with an equals and the version or append the name with a slash and codename (buster, bullseye, sid ...) or suite name (stable, testing, unstable). This will select versions from that release for dependencies. `Remove` includes all package data, leaving modified configuration files. If the remove was an error, requesting an `installl` will restore it. `Purge` removes configuration files as well. This does not affect any data or configuration stored in your home directory.
`autoremove apt-get`	Removes packages automatically installed to satisfy dependencies which are no longer needed. Check that the list does not include applications you like which were installed as a dependency package. To mark a package as manually(i.e. not automatically) installed by use `apt-mark.`
`search regx apt-cache`	To search for the given regex term in the list display matches. Useful for finding packages having a specific feature. For a package including a specific file use apt-file.
`show regexPkg apt-cache`	including its dependencies, installation and download size, sources the package is available from, description and more. Look at this before allowing apt to remove a package or while searching for new packages to install.
`list globPattern work-in-progress`	Display a list of packages satisfying a criteria. Supports glob patterns for matching names and listing installed (--installed), upgradeable (--upgradeable) or all available (--all-versions) versions.
`edit-sources work-in-progress`	Permits editing `sources.list` providing basic sanity checks.

Features are available in dedicated tools like apt-get and apt-cache.

Default value (see apt.conf are different in some cases and apt should be avoided in scripts.

See

apt-get, apt-cache, sources.list, apt.conf, apt-config, The APT User's guide in /usr/share/doc/apt-doc/, apt_preferences, the APT Howto.