apt
High-level package manager for Debian and Ubuntu with user-friendly output.
Synopsis
apt [OPTION]... COMMAND [PACKAGE]...
Examples
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install nginx
apt search redis
sudo apt remove --purge package-name
sudo apt autoremove
Common options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
| update | Refresh package index |
| upgrade | Upgrade all packages |
| install | Install packages |
| remove | Remove packages |
| search | Search package names and descriptions |
| autoremove | Remove unneeded dependencies |
About apt
The `apt` command high-level package manager for Debian and Ubuntu with user-friendly output. Package management commands install, update, and remove software on Linux distributions.
Each distribution family has its own package manager — apt for Debian/Ubuntu, yum/dnf for RHEL/Fedora, pacman for Arch, and so on. Understanding your distro's package manager is one of the first steps in Linux administration.
The command accepts 6 commonly used flags shown above, though the full set of options is available in the man page (`man apt`). The 5 examples on this page cover typical real-world usage patterns that you can copy and adapt for your own workflows.
Related commands
More Package Management Commands
Other commands in the Package Management category