How do I get Ubuntu to display `apt search` results on one line

activedecay

11/4/23, 4:02 PM

Really I want to ask, "how do I get apt search to show up more like Mint apt search?"

When I use Mint to search packages, they're shown on one line and my search terms are highlighted (colored) as in grep --color=auto. Also, there's a package state at the front of the line with a character describing the package's installed state, as in "i" if it's installed (see screenshot), or "v" or "p" (which have other meanings than it's installed).

Is there a setting I can change so that all my apt searches show on one line? With a short summary of the package's installed state, like "i"? With the search terms highlighted in the highlight color like grep? Is there a command line flag, or (better) a config file that I can edit so the results are always shown (as described above) without passing command line flags?

man apt-cache has no mention of "color" or "highlight" or ("line" as it relates to one-line output)

user@computer:~# apt show apt
Package: apt
Version: 2.4.8
...

user@computer:~# apt-file search $(which apt)
mintsystem: /usr/local/bin/apt            

user@computer:~# apt-file show mintsystem
mintsystem: /usr/local/bin/apt

user@computer:~# grep search $(which apt)
...
elif argcommand == "search":
    command = ["aptitude", "-w", columns, argcommand] + argoptions
--

user@computer:~# apt help search apt 
"apt search apt" is equivalent to "aptitude -w 104 search apt"

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apt

activedecay

11/4/23, 4:39 PM

Thanks for the downvote; would you please comment about how I can improve this question?

Archisman Panigrahi

11/4/23, 7:26 PM

(I did not downvote, but) Can you post a screenshot of both, so that we understand exactly what you are looking for?

activedecay

11/5/23, 6:52 PM

Call me crazy, but is mentioning a competing Linux distro in the question eliciting drive-by downvotes? Look, just please say why you downvote. I'll fix the question! Thank you <3

Score:0

Ubuntu

activedecay

11/5/23, 7:19 PM

Really I want to ask, "how do I get apt search to show up more like Mint apt search?"

You can by reverse engineering the executable linked to $(which apt) on a Mint system, which comes from the package mintsystem.

Is there a setting I can change so that all my apt searches show on one line? With a short summary of the package's installed state, like "i"?

Use aptitude when searching, like so:

aptitude -w $COLUMNS search apt

With the search terms highlighted in the highlight color like grep?

Pipe it to grep:

aptitude -w $COLUMNS search apt | grep apt

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Elon Musk

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EN: How do I get Ubuntu to display `apt search` results on one line

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