How to use APT package manager to install, remove packages ?

In this post, we describe the commands required to install new package in Ubuntu or if we want to remove any already installed package from Ubuntu.

Install new package in Ubuntu

 $ sudo apt-get install package_name

install is followed by one or more packages desired for installation or upgrading. Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified filename (for instance, in a Debian system, apt-utils would be the argument provided, not apt-utils_1.2.26_amd64.deb). All packages required by the package(s) specified for installation will also be retrieved and installed. The /etc/apt/sources.list file is used to locate the desired packages. If a hyphen is appended to the package name (with no intervening space), the identified package will be removed if it is installed. Similarly a plus sign can be used to designate a package to install. These latter features may be used to override decisions made by apt-get’s conflict resolution system.

Remove individual package

 $ sudo apt-get remove package_name

remove is identical to install except that packages are removed instead of installed. Note that removing a package leaves its configuration files on the system.

 $ sudo apt-get autoremove

autoremove is used to remove packages that were automatically installed to satisfy dependencies for other packages and are now no longer needed.

Remove package and its all configuration files

 $ sudo apt-get purge package_name/string

purge is identical to remove except that packages are removed and purged (any configuration files are deleted too).

Remove all downloaded but not installed packages

 $ sudo apt-get clean

clean clears out the local repository of retrieved package files. It removes everything but the lock file from /var/cache/apt/archives/ and /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/.

 $ sudo apt-get autoclean

Like clean, autoclean clears out the local repository of retrieved package files. The difference is that it only removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without it growing out of control.