EXPAC(1)                         expac Manual                         EXPAC(1)


NAME
       expac - alpm data extraction utility

SYNOPSIS
       Usage: expac [options] <format> targets...

DESCRIPTION
       expac is a data extraction tool for alpm databases. It features printf-
       like flexibility and aims to be used as a simple tool for other pacman
       based utilities which don't link against the library. It uses
       pacman.conf as a config file for locating and loading your local and
       sync databases.

       Invoking expac consists of supplying a format string, which is
       generally described by one to many of the formatting tokens (see the
       FORMATTING section), any relevant options and zero to many targets. The
       format string must be the first non-option argument. Targets can be a
       simple package name, a query string (in the case of a search), or in
       repo/package syntax when the -sync option is supplied.

OPTIONS
       -Q, --query
           Search the local database for provided targets. This is the default
           behavior.

       -S, --sync
           Search the sync databases for provided targets.

       -s, --search
           Search for packages matching the strings specified by targets. This
           is a boolean AND query and regex is allowed.

       -g, --group
           Return packages matching the specified targets as package groups.

       --config <file>
           Read from file for alpm initialization instead of /etc/pacman.conf.

       -H, --humansize <size>
           Format package sizes in SI units according to size. Valid options
           are:

             B, K, M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y

       -1, --readone
           Stop searching after the first result. This only has an effect on
           -S operations without -s.

       -d, --delim <string>
           Separate each package with the specified string. The default value
           is a newline character.

       -l, --listdelim <string>
           Separate each list item with the specified string. Lists are any
           interpreted sequence specified with a capital letter. The default
           value is two spaces.

       -p, --file
           Interpret targets as paths to local files.

       -t, --timefmt <format>
           Output time described by the specified format. This string is
           passed directly to strftime(3). The default format is %c.

       -v, --verbose
           Output more. `Package not found' errors will be shown, and empty
           field values will display as 'None'.

       -V, --version
           Display version information and quit.

       -h, --help
           Display the help message and quit.

FORMATTING
       The format argument allows the following interpreted sequences:

         %a    architecture

         %B    backup files

         %b    build date

         %C    conflicts with (no version strings)

         %D    depends on

         %d    description

         %E    depends on (no version strings)

         %e    package base

         %f    filename (only with -S)

         %F    files (only with -Q)

         %g    base64 encoded PGP signature (only with -S)

         %G    groups

         %H    conflicts with

         %h    sha256sum

         %i    has install scriptlet (only with -Q)

         %k    download size (only with -S)

         %l    install date (only with -Q)

         %L    licenses

         %m    install size

         %M    modified backup files (only with -Q)

         %n    package name

         %N    required by

         %O    optional deps

         %o    optional deps (no descriptions)

         %p    packager name

         %P    provides

         %R    replaces (no version strings)

         %r    repo

         %s    md5sum

         %S    provides (no version strings)

         %T    replaces

         %u    project URL

         %V    package validation method

         %v    version

         %w    install reason (only with -Q)

         %!    result number (auto-incremented counter, starts at 0)

         %%    literal %

       Note that for any lowercase tokens aside from %m and %k, full printf
       support is allowed, e.g. %-20n. This does not apply to any list based,
       date, or numerical output.

       Standard backslash escape sequences are supported, as per printf(1).

EXAMPLES
       Emulate pacman's search function:

         $ expac -Ss '%r/%n %v\n    %d' <search terms>

       List the oldest 10 installed packages (by build date):

         $ expac --timefmt=%s '%b\t%n' | sort -n | head -10

AUTHOR
       Dave Reisner <d@falconindy.com>

expac 10                          2024-03-18                          EXPAC(1)