After your first taste of the conveniences of a package manager (probably by installing a browser more easily than some people can), you might hit a roadblock when you want something specific, like a certain code library or program.
Typing in the exact name to the package manager might work, but in the case it doesn't, due to the package name being in a different format, you might feel lost or frustrated.
However, the package manager has you covered there too, since it can tell you what packages it knows about, and let you search for what you need. Most Linux distributions also offer a search website, which we will also link, but the command line is still the fastest way to go, without breaking your flow.
Search Commands in different distros
This varies from distro to distro depending on what package manager you use, and here are the commands for some common distros/package managers:
apt - Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!, Kali
For distros using apt and the dpkg (.deb) package format, you can use one
of the following commands:
apt search <package>
# for more options, try apt-cache
apt-cache search --names-only # shorter, simpler listings
apt-cache search --full # long listings with dependencies
- Debian offers package search via https://packages.debian.org/index.
- Ubuntu's search is at https://packages.ubuntu.com/.
- Mint offers search at http://packages.linuxmint.com/. As of the time of writing, this subdomain is NOT secured with HTTPS. Use at your own risk. Package names should be similar, if not identical to Ubuntu or Debian.
- Pop! unfortunately does not have a web interface yet, but there is this open issue about it.
- Kali has search at https://pkg.kali.org/.
dnf - Fedora, RHEL (emphasis on the L), CentOS, Rocky
For distros using dnf and the rpm package format, you can use one of the
following commands:
dnf search <package> # has extremely helpful search detail headers!
yum search <package> # this is the same thing, just used if you're on an ancient distro without dnf
Fedora offers web search for package repositories https://packages.fedoraproject.org/.
zypper - SUSE
For distros using zypper and the rpm package format, as is typical of the
SUSE family:
zypper search <package>
zypper se <package> # this is a shorter alias
The SUSE web search is at https://software.opensuse.org/search, and it includes support for some APT and DNF-based distros, like Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora, based on their Open Build Service (OBS) that supports all of them!
pacman - Arch (btw), Endeavour, Manjaro
For distros using pacman:
pacman -Ss <package> # not to be confused with -Qs, which only Queries local packages
Your AUR helper may provide its own options in addition.
Arch's official repositories can be browsed at https://archlinux.org/packages/, and the AUR can be seen at https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.
xbps - Void
Disclaimer: I use Void btw.
xbps-query -Rs <package> # to search for a package in the Repositories, without -R, you're only searching through installed packages
For web searches, try https://voidlinux.org/packages/.
Others
For web-based package searching across distros, try Repology - which also makes those cool package listing displays that people embed in README. Another option is pkgs.org.
The Rosetta Table
The Arch Wiki has a splendid "Rosetta" table that lets you translate common tasks into various distro-isms! It's really helpful for any tasks that are more specific than querying.
That's it! Have fun installing whatever you need!