How to List Installed Packages on Ubuntu

Ubuntu tracks most desktop and server software as .deb packages managed by APT and dpkg. When you need a software inventory—for troubleshooting, migration, or cleanup—you usually want one of three things: the full list, a single package lookup, or a count or export you can reuse on another machine.

This guide is organized by what you are trying to find. I ran every command on Ubuntu 25.04 and kept real terminal output below so you can compare your system.

Tested on: Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin); kernel 6.14.0-37-generic; amd64.

What do you want to find?

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, or newer (25.04 tested)—see check Ubuntu version.
• Terminal access (local or SSH).
• No sudo required for read-only listing commands; sudo only if your user cannot read /var/log/dpkg.log.

Related guides: apt command, dpkg command, remove unused packages, remove obsolete packages.

List all .deb packages with apt

On current Ubuntu releases, apt list --installed is the most readable default. It shows the package name, suite (plucky on 25.04), version, architecture, and install state:

apt list --installed

Pipe through less when the list is long:

apt list --installed | less

The first lines on the test host looked like this:

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

Listing...
7zip/plucky,now 24.09+dfsg-7 amd64 [installed,automatic]
accountsservice/plucky,now 23.13.9-7ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
acl/plucky,now 2.3.2-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
adduser/plucky,plucky,now 3.137ubuntu2 all [installed,automatic]

Common tags in the last column:

Search for a specific package

By exact or glob name with apt

apt list --installed nmap

Example output:

nmap/plucky,now 7.95+dfsg-2 amd64 [installed]

Glob patterns work—list every installed package whose name starts with linux-image:

apt list --installed 'linux-image*'

Filter the full list with grep

apt list --installed 2>/dev/null | grep -i wireshark

On the test host that returned wireshark, wireshark-common, and related libraries.

Detailed metadata with apt show

apt show nmap

Shows version, section, maintainer, and Installed-Size:

Package: nmap
Version: 7.95+dfsg-2
Installed-Size: 4,480 kB
...

Status from the dpkg database

dpkg -l nmap
dpkg -s nmap

dpkg -l prints a one-line table row; dpkg -s prints full control-file fields (similar depth to apt show).

List packages with dpkg -l

dpkg -l is the classic low-level list. Every line starts with a two-letter status code; ii means installed and configured:

dpkg -l

Header and sample rows:

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
ii  nmap           7.95+dfsg-2  amd64        The Network Mapper
ii  bash           5.2.37-2ubuntu5 amd64     GNU Bourne Again SHell

Filter with grep:

dpkg -l | grep -i '^ii' | grep nmap

Pattern matching with dpkg-query:

dpkg-query -l 'nmap*'

That listed both nmap and nmap-common on the test system.

Count installed packages

Quiet count with apt:

apt -qq list --installed 2>/dev/null | wc -l

Count fully installed rows with dpkg:

dpkg -l | grep -c '^ii'

Both returned 2580 on the test host.

Alternative one-liner with package names only:

dpkg --get-selections | grep -w install | wc -l

List upgradable packages

Refresh repository metadata first, then list packages with a newer version in your sources:

sudo apt update
apt list --upgradable

Sample lines from the test host:

alsa-ucm-conf/plucky-updates 1.2.12-1ubuntu1.4 all [upgradable from: 1.2.12-1ubuntu1.3]
fwupd/plucky-updates 2.0.13-1~25.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 2.0.7-1]

Count pending upgrades:

apt -qq list --upgradable 2>/dev/null | wc -l

That returned 34 after apt update on the test system. An empty list right after a full sudo apt upgrade is normal.

List manually installed packages

APT distinguishes packages you explicitly installed from dependencies it pulled in automatically.

List packages marked manual:

apt-mark showmanual

First lines on the test host:

alsa-base
alsa-utils
amavisd-new
anacron
apport-gtk
appstream
apt-config-icons-hidpi
apt-file

Count:

apt-mark showmanual | wc -l

That returned 324 manual packages versus 2580 total installed—most entries are automatic dependencies.

List automatic-only packages:

apt-mark showauto | head

To mark a dependency as manual (so apt autoremove will not drop it):

sudo apt-mark manual packagename

List Snap packages

Snaps are not in the apt database. Use:

snap list

Example output:

Name                       Version                         Rev    Tracking         Publisher
firefox                    152.0.3-1                       8568   latest/stable/…  mozilla**
core22                     20260225                        2411   latest/stable    canonical**
desktop-security-center    0+git.25daa58                   151    1/stable/…       canonical**

Omit the header and count apps (excluding base snaps like core22 if you prefer) with your own filter, or count all lines minus one:

snap list | tail -n +2 | wc -l

List Flatpak apps

If Flatpak is installed:

flatpak list

On the test host flatpak was not installed (command not found). Install the tool first when you use Flatpak software:

sudo apt install flatpak

Then flatpak list shows application IDs, branches, and origins separately from apt and Snap.

Export the package list to a file

All installed package names (replication)

Save one name per line:

dpkg-query -f '${binary:Package}\n' -W > ~/packages.txt
head ~/packages.txt

Example:

7zip
accountsservice
acl
adduser
adwaita-icon-theme

On the test host the file had 2606 lines (includes rc config leftovers). For installed-only names:

dpkg-query -W -f='${binary:Package}\n' | while read p; do
  dpkg-query -W -f='${Status}' "$p" 2>/dev/null | grep -q '^install ok installed' && echo "$p"
done > ~/packages-installed.txt

A simpler approach most admins use—export manual packages only:

apt-mark showmanual > ~/manual-packages.txt

Copy the list to another Ubuntu machine

1. Copy manual-packages.txt or packages.txt to the target system.
2. Enable the same PPAs and third-party sources.list.d entries.
3. Install:

xargs -a manual-packages.txt sudo apt install

Exact versions will not match unless releases and repos align—treat the file as a checklist, not a byte-for-byte clone. For obsolete or leftover packages after a release upgrade, see remove obsolete packages on Ubuntu.

Export from apt (human-readable)

apt list --installed 2>/dev/null > ~/apt-installed.txt

Find the largest installed packages

dpkg-query exposes Installed-Size in kilobytes:

dpkg-query -Wf '${Package}\t${Installed-Size}\n' | sort -n -k2 | tail -8

With readable megabytes:

dpkg-query -Wf '${Package}\t${Installed-Size}\n' | sort -n -k2 | tail -8 | awk '{printf "%s\t%.1f MB\n", $1, $2/1024}'

Largest entries on the test host:

libllvm20	154.6 MB
ubuntu-wallpapers-plucky	159.7 MB
openjdk-21-jre-headless	193.7 MB
nodejs	225.3 MB
kotlin	281.0 MB
llvm-20-dev	369.0 MB
google-chrome-stable	402.0 MB
linux-firmware	552.1 MB

List packages over 100 MB:

dpkg-query -Wf '${Package}\t${Installed-Size}\n' | awk '$2 > 102400 {printf "%s\t%.1f MB\n", $1, $2/1024}'

Package install history from logs

Logs are partial—rotated and truncated—but they answer “when was this installed recently?”

dpkg.log (per-package install lines)

grep " install " /var/log/dpkg.log | tail -5

Recent lines on the test host:

2026-06-28 23:21:42 install libwiretap15:amd64 <none> 4.4.5-1
2026-06-28 23:21:43 install libwireshark18:amd64 <none> 4.4.5-1
2026-06-28 23:21:44 install wireshark-common:amd64 <none> 4.4.5-1
2026-06-28 23:21:45 install wireshark:amd64 <none> 4.4.5-1
2026-06-28 23:22:32 install tshark:amd64 <none> 4.4.5-1

Archived logs:

zgrep " install " /var/log/dpkg.log.*.gz | tail -5

Extract package names only:

grep " install " /var/log/dpkg.log | awk '{print $4}' | cut -d: -f1

apt history (whole apt sessions)

less /var/log/apt/history.log

Shows Start-Date, Commandline, and grouped Install: lines—for example a apt-get install wireshark block with every dependency listed.

Graphical list (Ubuntu Software)

On Ubuntu Desktop with GNOME:

1. Open Activities and launch Ubuntu Software (or App Center on newer images).
2. Open the Installed tab.

You can search, open details, and remove GUI applications from there. The view covers Snap and some .deb apps exposed to the store—it does not replace apt list for servers or a full package audit.

Optional: aptitude (legacy TUI)

aptitude is an older interactive front-end. It is not installed by default on Ubuntu 25.04:

sudo apt install aptitude
aptitude search '~i'

Search installed Apache-related packages:

aptitude search '~i apache'

Most administrators today use apt and dpkg directly; install aptitude only if you prefer its TUI or already rely on its search patterns.

Troubleshooting

References

• apt(8) — Ubuntu man page
• dpkg-query(1) — Ubuntu man page
• Package management — Ubuntu Server documentation
• snap(8) — Ubuntu man page
• apt-mark(8) — Ubuntu man page

Summary

For everyday use on Ubuntu, start with apt list --installed for the full .deb inventory and apt list packagename --installed or apt show when you care about one package. dpkg -l and dpkg-query remain the right tools for scripts, status codes, and disk-size reports. Add snap list (and flatpak list when relevant) so you do not miss applications outside apt.

When you need counts, apt -qq list --installed | wc -l and dpkg -l | grep -c '^ii' agreed at 2580 packages on the test host. Export apt-mark showmanual or a dpkg-query name list when you migrate to another machine, and use apt list --upgradable after sudo apt update to see pending updates. Log files under /var/log/dpkg.log and /var/log/apt/history.log help with recent install timing, not a complete lifetime inventory.