Package Management
pacman
Package manager for Arch Linux and derivatives.
Synopsis
syntax
pacman [OPTION]... [TARGET]...
Examples
Full system upgrade
sudo pacman -Syu
Install a package
sudo pacman -S firefox
Search for Docker packages
pacman -Ss docker
List files owned by package
pacman -Ql nginx
Remove package and orphan deps
sudo pacman -Rs old-package
Common options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
| -S | Sync / install packages |
| -R | Remove packages |
| -Q | Query installed packages |
| -Syu | Full system upgrade |
| -Ss | Search remote packages |
| -Rs | Remove package and unneeded deps |
About pacman
The `pacman` command package manager for Arch Linux and derivatives. 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 pacman`). 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