Can I get the list of the packages whose configuration is needed to be purged?

Vivek Sundaray

11/22/22, 3:13 AM

I Tried to get the list of all the removed packages whose configurations are to be purged through this command dpkg -l but there was a very huge list. Is there any command to get the list of all the packages which are needed to be purged?

1 + 1

dpkg

Scott Stensland

11/22/22, 3:18 AM

command `dpkg -l` will list all packages so its a read only command ... notice at the top a header which explains meaning of the far left column of each package row

Score:5

Ubuntu

Charles Green

11/22/22, 4:14 AM

You will be missing the header row, but the command

dpkg-query -l | awk '/^.c/'

will list the packages in which only config files exist

The list of packages found by awk could be deleted with a change to the program

dpkg-query -l | awk  '/^.c/ { system("sudo dpkg --purge " $2) }'

It should be noted that I don't think this is a great idea: I think it would be preferable to list the output from the search to a file, verify that you are ok with removing the packages named, and then use the text file as an input to dpkg:

dpkg-query -l | awk  '/^.c/' > ~/DpgkTargets
sudo nano ~/DpkgTargets
sudo dpkg --purge < ~/DpkgTargets

0 + 3

Vivek Sundaray

11/23/22, 6:17 PM

ok got it. How can I remove all those packages with a single command ?

Charles Green

11/23/22, 8:34 PM

@VivekSundaray The 'system' command in awk could do it: `dpkg-query -l | awk '/^.c/ { system("sudo dpkg --purge " $2) }'` - it should go without saying that this should be used very cautiously. I will expound in the answer

Vivek Sundaray

11/24/22, 4:01 AM

Thanks a lot. I am not going to remove it but just wanted to know

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Can I get the list of the packages whose configuration is needed to be purged?

TH: ฉันสามารถรับรายการแพ็คเกจที่จำเป็นต้องล้างการกำหนดค่าได้หรือไม่

RO: Pot obține lista pachetelor a căror configurație este necesară pentru a fi curățată?

RU: Могу ли я получить список пакетов, конфигурацию которых необходимо очистить?

VI: Tôi có thể lấy danh sách các gói cần xóa cấu hình không?

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