Warning
This program is experimental and its interface is subject to change.
Name
nix search - search for packages
Synopsis
nix search [option...] installable regex...
Note: this command's interface is based heavily around installables, which you may want to read about first (nix --help).
Examples
-
Show all packages in the
nixpkgsflake:# nix search nixpkgs ^ * legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.AMB-plugins (0.8.1) A set of ambisonics ladspa plugins * legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.ArchiSteamFarm (4.3.1.0) Application with primary purpose of idling Steam cards from multiple accounts simultaneously … -
Show packages in the
nixpkgsflake containingblenderin its name or description:# nix search nixpkgs blender * legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.blender (2.91.0) 3D Creation/Animation/Publishing System -
Search for packages underneath the attribute
gnome3in Nixpkgs:# nix search nixpkgs#gnome3 vala * legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.gnome3.vala (0.48.9) Compiler for GObject type system -
Show all packages in the flake in the current directory:
# nix search . ^ -
Search for Firefox or Chromium:
# nix search nixpkgs 'firefox|chromium' -
Search for packages containing
gitand eitherfrontendorgui:# nix search nixpkgs git 'frontend|gui' -
Search for packages containing
neovimbut hide ones containing eitherguiorpython:# nix search nixpkgs neovim --exclude 'python|gui'or
# nix search nixpkgs neovim --exclude 'python' --exclude 'gui'
Description
nix search searches installable (which can be evaluated, that is, a
flake or Nix expression, but not a store path or store derivation path) for packages whose name or description matches all of the
regular expressions regex. For each matching package, It prints the
full attribute name (from the root of the installable), the version
and the meta.description field, highlighting the substrings that
were matched by the regular expressions.
To show all packages, use the regular expression ^. In contrast to .*,
it avoids highlighting the entire name and description of every package.
Note that in this context,
^is the regex character to match the beginning of a string, not the delimiter for selecting a derivation output.
Flake output attributes
If no flake output attribute is given, nix search searches for
packages:
-
Directly underneath
packages.<system>. -
Underneath
legacyPackages.<system>, recursing into attribute sets that contain an attributerecurseForDerivations = true.
Options
-
--exclude/-eregex Hide packages whose attribute path, name or description contain regex. -
--jsonProduce output in JSON format, suitable for consumption by another program.
Common evaluation options:
-
--argname expr Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions. -
--argstrname string Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions. -
--debuggerStart an interactive environment if evaluation fails. -
--eval-storestore-url The URL of the Nix store to use for evaluation, i.e. to store derivations (.drvfiles) and inputs referenced by them. -
--impureAllow access to mutable paths and repositories. -
--include/-Ipath Add path to the Nix search path. The Nix search path is initialized from the colon-separatedNIX_PATHenvironment variable, and is used to look up the location of Nix expressions using paths enclosed in angle brackets (i.e.,<nixpkgs>).For instance, passing
-I /home/eelco/Dev -I /etc/nixoswill cause Lix to look for paths relative to
/home/eelco/Devand/etc/nixos, in that order. This is equivalent to setting theNIX_PATHenvironment variable to/home/eelco/Dev:/etc/nixosIt is also possible to match paths against a prefix. For example, passing
-I nixpkgs=/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch -I /etc/nixoswill cause Lix to search for
<nixpkgs/path>in/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch/pathand/etc/nixos/nixpkgs/path.If a path in the Nix search path starts with
http://orhttps://, it is interpreted as the URL of a tarball that will be downloaded and unpacked to a temporary location. The tarball must consist of a single top-level directory. For example, passing-I nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/master.tar.gztells Lix to download and use the current contents of the
masterbranch in thenixpkgsrepository.The URLs of the tarballs from the official
nixos.orgchannels (see the manual page fornix-channel) can be abbreviated aschannel:<channel-name>. For instance, the following two flags are equivalent:-I nixpkgs=channel:nixos-21.05 -I nixpkgs=https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-21.05/nixexprs.tar.xzYou can also fetch source trees using flake URLs and add them to the search path. For instance,
-I nixpkgs=flake:nixpkgsspecifies that the prefix
nixpkgsshall refer to the source tree downloaded from thenixpkgsentry in the flake registry. Similarly,-I nixpkgs=flake:github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-22.05makes
<nixpkgs>refer to a particular branch of theNixOS/nixpkgsrepository on GitHub. -
--override-flakeoriginal-ref resolved-ref Override the flake registries, redirecting original-ref to resolved-ref.
Common flake-related options:
-
--commit-lock-fileCommit changes to the flake's lock file. -
--inputs-fromflake-url Use the inputs of the specified flake as registry entries. -
--no-registriesDon't allow lookups in the flake registries. This option is deprecated; use--no-use-registries. -
--no-update-lock-fileDo not allow any updates to the flake's lock file. -
--no-write-lock-fileDo not write the flake's newly generated lock file. -
--output-lock-fileflake-lock-path Write the given lock file instead offlake.lockwithin the top-level flake. -
--override-inputinput-path flake-url Override a specific flake input (e.g.dwarffs/nixpkgs). This implies--no-write-lock-file. -
--reference-lock-fileflake-lock-path Read the given lock file instead offlake.lockwithin the top-level flake.
Logging-related options:
-
--debugSet the logging verbosity level to 'debug'. -
--log-formatformat Set the format of log output; one ofraw,internal-json,bar,bar-with-logs,multilineormultiline-with-logs. -
--print-build-logs/-LPrint full build logs on standard error. -
--quietDecrease the logging verbosity level. -
--verbose/-vIncrease the logging verbosity level.
Miscellaneous global options:
-
--helpShow usage information. -
--offlineDisable substituters and consider all previously downloaded files up-to-date. -
--optionname value Set the Lix configuration setting name to value (overridingnix.conf). -
--refreshConsider all previously downloaded files out-of-date. -
--repairDuring evaluation, rewrite missing or corrupted files in the Nix store. During building, rebuild missing or corrupted store paths. -
--versionShow version information.
Options that change the interpretation of installables:
-
--expr/-Eexpr Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression expr. -
--file/-ffile Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression stored in file. If file is the character -, then a Nix expression will be read from standard input. Implies--impure.
Note
See
man nix.conffor overriding configuration settings with command line flags.