---
name: "rapt-file"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "apt-file"
version: "2.5.1"
release: "Debian 7 (Wheezy)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/rapt-file"
---

# rapt-file(1)

APT package searching utility -- search remotely

## NAME

rapt-file - APT package searching utility -- search remotely

## SYNOPSIS

**rapt-file** \[ **options** \] \[ **action** \] \[ **pattern** \]

## DESCRIPTION

**rapt-file** is a command line tool for searching files in packages for the APT package management system. It differs from apt-file in that it works with remote package indices, so it doesn't need to download full Contents files.

- **find**

  Alias for **search**.

- **list**

  List the contents of a package matching the **pattern** pattern. This action is very close to the **dpkg -L** command except the package does not need to be installed or fetched.

- **search**

  Search in which package a file is included. A list of all packages containing the **pattern** pattern is returned.

  rapt-file will only search for filenames, not directory names. This is due to the format of the Contents files it searches.

- **show**

  Alias for **list**.

## OPTIONS

- **-a, --architecture architecture**

  Sets architecture to architecture. This option is useful if you search a package for a different architecture from the one installed on your system. It determines how the $ARCH variable in sources.list is expanded (but it does not influence the search in any other way).

- **-l, --package-only**

  Only display package name; do not display file names.

- **-v, --verbose**

  Run **rapt-file** in verbose mode.

- **-h, --help**

  Display a short help screen.

## FILES

- */etc/apt/sources.list*

  Locations to fetch package contents from.

- */etc/apt/sources.list.d/*

  Directory with additional sources.list snippets

## AUTHOR

**rapt-file** was written by Enrico Zini \<enrico@debian.org\>.