Reference

nix3-search(1)

search for packages

Warning
This program is experimental ⟨@docroot@/development/experimental-features.md#xp-feature-nix-command⟩ and its interface is subject to change.

Name

nix search - search for packages

Synopsis

nix search [option…] installable regex…

Examples

•

Show all packages in the nixpkgs flake:

# nix search nixpkgs ^
* legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.AMB-plugins (0.8.1)
A set of ambisonics ladspa plugins
* legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.ArchiSteamFarm (4.3.1.0)
Application with primary purpose of idling Steam cards from multiple accounts simultaneously
…
•

Show packages in the nixpkgs flake containing blender in its name or description:

# nix search nixpkgs blender
* legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.blender (2.91.0)
3D Creation/Animation/Publishing System
•

Search for packages underneath the attribute gnome3 in Nixpkgs:

# nix search nixpkgs#gnome3 vala
* legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.gnome3.vala (0.48.9)
Compiler for GObject type system
•

Show all packages in the flake in the current directory:

# nix search . ^
•

Search for Firefox or Chromium:

# nix search nixpkgs 'firefox|chromium'
•

Search for packages containing git and either frontend or gui:

# nix search nixpkgs git 'frontend|gui'
•

Search for packages containing neovim but hide ones containing either gui or python:

# nix search nixpkgs neovim --exclude 'python|gui'

or

# nix search nixpkgs neovim --exclude 'python' --exclude 'gui'

Description

nix search searches installable ⟨./nix.md#installables⟩ (which can be evaluated, that is, a flake or Nix expression, but not a store path or store derivation path) for packages whose name or description matches all of the regular expressions regex. For each matching package, It prints the full attribute name (from the root of the installable ⟨./nix.md#installables⟩\c ), the version and the meta.description field, highlighting the substrings that were matched by the regular expressions.

To show all packages, use the regular expression ^. In contrast to .*, it avoids highlighting the entire name and description of every package.

Note that in this context, ^ is the regex character to match the beginning of a string, not the delimiter for selecting a derivation output ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix.md#derivation-output-selection⟩\c .

Flake output attributes

If no flake output attribute is given, nix search searches for packages:

•

Directly underneath packages.<system>.

•

Underneath legacyPackages.<system>, recursing into attribute sets that contain an attribute recurseForDerivations = true.

Options

•

--exclude ⟨#opt-exclude⟩ / -e regex

Hide packages whose attribute path, name or description contain regex.

•

--json ⟨#opt-json⟩

Produce output in JSON format, suitable for consumption by another program.

Common evaluation options

•

--arg ⟨#opt-arg⟩ name expr

Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions.

•

--arg-from-file ⟨#opt-arg-from-file⟩ name path

Pass the contents of file path as the argument name to Nix functions.

•

--arg-from-stdin ⟨#opt-arg-from-stdin⟩ name

Pass the contents of stdin as the argument name to Nix functions.

•

--argstr ⟨#opt-argstr⟩ name string

Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions.

•

--debugger ⟨#opt-debugger⟩

Start an interactive environment if evaluation fails.

•

--eval-store ⟨#opt-eval-store⟩ store-url

The URL of the Nix store ⟨@docroot@/store/types/index.md#store-url-format⟩ to use for evaluation, i.e. to store derivations (.drv files) and inputs referenced by them.

•

--impure ⟨#opt-impure⟩

Allow access to mutable paths and repositories.

•

--include ⟨#opt-include⟩ / -I path

Add path to search path entries used to resolve lookup paths ⟨@docroot@/language/constructs/lookup-path.md⟩

This option may be given multiple times.

Paths added through -I take precedence over the nix-path configuration setting ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-nix-path⟩ and the NIX_PATH environment variable ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/env-common.md#env-NIX_PATH⟩\c .

•

--override-flake ⟨#opt-override-flake⟩ original-ref resolved-ref

Override the flake registries, redirecting original-ref to resolved-ref.

Common flake-related options

•

--commit-lock-file ⟨#opt-commit-lock-file⟩

Commit changes to the flake’s lock file.

•

--inputs-from ⟨#opt-inputs-from⟩ flake-url

Use the inputs of the specified flake as registry entries.

•

--no-registries ⟨#opt-no-registries⟩

Don’t allow lookups in the flake registries.

DEPRECATED

Use --no-use-registries ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-use-registries⟩ instead.

•

--no-update-lock-file ⟨#opt-no-update-lock-file⟩

Do not allow any updates to the flake’s lock file.

•

--no-write-lock-file ⟨#opt-no-write-lock-file⟩

Do not write the flake’s newly generated lock file.

•

--output-lock-file ⟨#opt-output-lock-file⟩ flake-lock-path

Write the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.

•

--override-input ⟨#opt-override-input⟩ input-path flake-url

Override a specific flake input (e.g. dwarffs/nixpkgs). This implies --no-write-lock-file.

•

--recreate-lock-file ⟨#opt-recreate-lock-file⟩

Recreate the flake’s lock file from scratch.

DEPRECATED

Use nix flake update ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-flake-update.md⟩ instead.

•

--reference-lock-file ⟨#opt-reference-lock-file⟩ flake-lock-path

Read the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.

•

--update-input ⟨#opt-update-input⟩ input-path

Update a specific flake input (ignoring its previous entry in the lock file).

DEPRECATED

Use nix flake update ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-flake-update.md⟩ instead.

Logging-related options

•

--debug ⟨#opt-debug⟩

Set the logging verbosity level to ‘debug’.

•

--log-format ⟨#opt-log-format⟩ format

Set the format of log output; one of raw, internal-json, bar or bar-with-logs.

•

--print-build-logs ⟨#opt-print-build-logs⟩ / -L

Print full build logs on standard error.

•

--quiet ⟨#opt-quiet⟩

Decrease the logging verbosity level.

•

--verbose ⟨#opt-verbose⟩ / -v

Increase the logging verbosity level.

Miscellaneous global options

•

--help ⟨#opt-help⟩

Show usage information.

•

--offline ⟨#opt-offline⟩

Disable substituters and consider all previously downloaded files up-to-date.

•

--option ⟨#opt-option⟩ name value

Set the Nix configuration setting name to value (overriding nix.conf).

•

--refresh ⟨#opt-refresh⟩

Consider all previously downloaded files out-of-date.

•

--repair ⟨#opt-repair⟩

During evaluation, rewrite missing or corrupted files in the Nix store. During building, rebuild missing or corrupted store paths.

•

--version ⟨#opt-version⟩

Show version information.

Options that change the interpretation of installables

•

--expr ⟨#opt-expr⟩ expr

Interpret installables ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix.md#installables⟩ as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression expr.

•

--file ⟨#opt-file⟩ / -f file

Interpret installables ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix.md#installables⟩ as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression stored in file. If file is the character -, then a Nix expression will be read from standard input. Implies --impure.

Note

See man nix.conf ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#command-line-flags⟩ for overriding configuration settings with command line flags.

History