Searching packages: Difference between revisions

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-There are a different ways to search for a package name in the nix package manager.
+There are numerous approaches available for searching substrings within both package names and package descriptions in <code>nixpkgs</code>.
+== Using <code>search.nixos.org</code> website ==
-== The NixOS packages search engine ==
+There is a web service to search with
+: [[channel branches]]
+:* Nix packages at [https://search.nixos.org/packages search.nixos.org/packages]
+:* NixOS options at [https://search.nixos.org/options search.nixos.org/options]
+: [[flakes]]
+:* packages at [https://search.nixos.org/flakes?type=packages search.nixos.org/flakes?type=packages]
+:* options at [https://search.nixos.org/flakes?type=options search.nixos.org/flakes?type=options]
-There is a website that let you search for Nix packages and NixOS options at https://search.nixos.org/
+; pros:
+* easy to use
+* allows filters
+* nice GUI in browser
+* browser extensions possible (like @nixpgs as search engine in Firefox)
+; cons:
+* always requires Internet connection
-* pros
+== Using the <code>nix search</code> command ==
-** it's easy to use
-** allow filters
-* cons
-** it requires Internet
-== Using the nix-env command ==
+While this command requires [[flakes]], you can use it to search for a package. It may be slow the first time, but further runs will use cached results.
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix search nixpkgs firefox</syntaxhighlight>
+; pros:
+* fast
+* possible offline usage
+; cons:
+* requires disk space for caching
+* quite long command
+== Using the <code>nix-env</code> command ==
 It's possible to search for a package using <code>nix-env -qaP</code>
-* pros
+; pros:
-** works offline
+* works offline
-* cons
+; cons:
-** it's very slow and requires a lot of memory
+* it's very slow and requires a lot of memory
+== Using the <code>nix repl</code> environment ==
+With the read–eval–print loop (REPL) of nix you can browse packages interactively.
+Starting the [https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-repl.html nix repl]
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix repl</syntaxhighlight>
+<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
+Welcome to Nix 2.18.2. Type :? for help.
+nix-repl>
+</syntaxhighlight>
+Loading the repository for nixpkgs
+<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
+nix-repl>
+</syntaxhighlight>
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix-repl> :load <nixpkgs>
+Added 21181 variables.
+</syntaxhighlight>Type the first letters of a package
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix-repl> neo  </syntaxhighlight>
+Press <tt>Tab ↹</tt> key<!-- {{[[mw:Template::Key press]]|Tab}} --> for auto completion
 == Reverse search: searching which package provides a file ==
-It's possible to use the third party program [https://github.com/bennofs/nix-index nix-index] to find which package provides a given file, this is particularly useful when you are looking for a very specific file but you don't know which package installs it.
+There is third party programs [https://github.com/nix-community/nix-index nix-index], and [https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Flakes rippkgs] to find which package provides a given file. This is particularly useful when you are looking for a very specific file but you don't know which package installs it.
 [[Category:Reference]]
+[[Category:Nixpkgs]]