The apt command allows the user to search for a specific package. This is very useful if you do not know the exact name for package installation.
This is one way.
ubuntu ~ $ apt-cache search vim |
This will return a long listing of all matching package names.
This is another way. This will return a listing of all matching packages with a short one sentence description.
ubuntu ~ $ apt search vim |
This is how to filter the output to get better results. Here I am looking for all VIM editor packages.
ubuntu ~ $ apt-cache search vim | grep editor vim - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor vim-dbg - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor (debugging symbols) vim-gnome - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - with GNOME2 GUI vim-tiny - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - compact version editmoin - edit MoinMoin wiki pages with your favourite editor elvis-tiny - Tiny vi compatible editor for the base system vim-addon-manager - manager of addons for the Vim editor vim-athena - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - with Athena GUI vim-gtk - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - with GTK2 GUI vim-lesstif - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor (transitional package) vim-nox - Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - with scripting languages support vim-vimoutliner - script for building an outline editor on top of Vim |
Very easy to do.
Another example.
This is a very good thing to know when you are stuck with a package that you cannot remember the name of.