---
name: "ucfq"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "ucf"
version: "3.0052"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ucfq"
---

# ucfq(1)

query ucf database

## NAME

ucfq - query ucf database

## SYNOPSIS

```
 usage: ucfq [options] /path/file.conf|package...
```

## OPTIONS

- **--help** **-h** Print out a usage message.

  - **--version** **-V** Print version.

  - **--debug** **-d** Turn on debugging mode.

  - **--verbose** **-v** Make the script more verbose.

  - **--with-colons** **-w**

  Normally, the script presents the information in a human readable tabular format, but that may be harder for a machine to parse. With this option, the output is a compact, colon separated line, with no dividers, headers, or footer.

- **--state-dir** dir

  Set the state directory to `"/path/to/dir"` instead of the default `"/var/lib/ucf"`.  Used mostly for testing.

## DESCRIPTION

This script takes a set of arguments, each of which is a package name (and thus does not contain a /) or a full path to a configuration file, and outputs the associated package, if any, if the file exists on disk, and whether it has been modified by the user.  The output is either a human readable tabular form, or a compact colon-separated machine friendly format.

This script can be used in package `"postrm"` scripts during purge to query the system for configuration files that may still exist on the system, and whether these files have been locally modified by the user -- assuming that the package registered all the configuration files with **ucf** using **ucfr**.

## AUTHORS

- Manoj Srivastava \<srivasta@debian.org\>

  - Mark Hindley \<leepen@debian.org\>

  ## COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This script is a part of the Ucf package, and is

- Copyright (c) 2006 Manoj Srivastava \<srivasta@debian.org\>

  - Copyright (c) 2024 Mark Hindley \<leepen@debian.org\>

  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and / or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA

## SEE ALSO

[**ucf**(1)](/ucf/1.md), [**ucfr**(1)](/ucfr/1.md)