List Packages in Ubuntu using dpkg

To list the packages in ubuntu you can use the “dpkg” command. This is the debian package manager. Ubuntu uses it since it is debian based.

computer@computer:~$ dpkg --list
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name               Version            Description
+++-==================-==================-====================================================
ii  accountsservice    0.6.14-1git1       query and manipulate user account information
ii  acl                2.2.51-3           Access control list utilities
...

This will produce a list of packages installed on the system. This an be combined with the grep command to find a specific package

computer@computer:~$ dpkg --list | grep vim

ii  vim-common                             2:7.3.154+hg~74503f6ee649-2ubuntu3      Vi IMproved - Common files
ii  vim-tiny                               2:7.3.154+hg~74503f6ee649-2ubuntu3      Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - compact version

Ubuntu provides an way to manage packages.