apt-file: which deb package to install to get X?

#apt #aptfile #debian

You need to get file X (e.g. hugo), what package to install?

Long time ago, I got used to visit packages.debian.org, scroll down to second search form "Search the contents of packages" and search there.

It's much easier to search with apt-file right from CLI:
Install:

apt install apt-file
apt-file update

Now search:

$ apt-file search hugo
fish-common: /usr/share/fish/completions/hugo.fish
gargoyle-free: /usr/lib/gargoyle/hugo
hugo: /usr/bin/hugo
hugo: /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/hugo
hugo: /usr/share/doc/hugo/changelog.Debian.amd64.gz
...

but if we will search for 'gcc', we will find 170000+ results because apt-find looks for substring match. (and 30k results for 'mc' substring). We should use -x/--regexp search:

$ apt-file -x search bin/gcc$
gcc: /usr/bin/gcc                         
icecc: /usr/lib/icecc/bin/gcc
nvidia-cuda-toolkit: /usr/lib/nvidia-cuda-toolkit/bin/gcc
pentium-builder: /usr/bin/gcc