Windows Linux Package Management Expanded guide

Windows `winget list` equivalent in Linux

Displays packages currently installed through the system package manager.

Reference maintained by Win-Linux.com · How mappings are evaluated

Windows winget list

→

Linux equivalents

Debian/Ubuntu apt/dpkg

apt list --installed | grep PACKAGE

Fedora dnf/rpm

dnf list installed | grep PACKAGE

Arch pacman

pacman -Q | grep PACKAGE

Overview

What this command does

On Windows, "winget list" is used to list installed packages. On Linux, the closest practical mapping shown here is "pacman -Q". Displays packages currently installed through the system package manager. This reference is grouped under Package Management.

Migration tip: Package databases list software installed by that package manager. Flatpak, Snap and manually installed applications have separate inventories.

Windows → Linux context

What changes when you use this on Linux?

Equivalent task, different tool

Windows winget list maps to dpkg -l / pacman -Q / dnf list installed for this task. Treat this as a workflow mapping rather than a character-for-character syntax translation.

Distribution details matter

The Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch rows are not identical. Use the row for your distribution instead of changing only the package-manager name in an example.

For the broader concept behind this mapping, read Linux package management.

Practical tasks

Common use cases

List installed packages

Displays packages currently installed through the system package manager.

dpkg -l

List Debian packages

pacman -Q

List Arch packages

dnf list installed

List Fedora packages

Ready to run

Copyable Linux commands

Review paths, device names, package names and permissions before running any command.

dpkg -l

pacman -Q

dnf list installed

Walkthrough

Examples with explanations

dpkg -l # list installed Debian packages
pacman -Q # list installed Arch packages
dnf list installed # list installed Fedora packages

Reference

Common options and variations

Command or option	Use
`dpkg -l`	List Debian packages
`pacman -Q`	List Arch packages
`dnf list installed`	List Fedora packages

Distro differences

Debian/Ubuntu vs Fedora vs Arch

The equivalent is distribution-specific for this task: Debian/Ubuntu uses "apt list --installed | grep PACKAGE"; Fedora uses "dnf list installed | grep PACKAGE"; Arch uses "pacman -Q | grep PACKAGE".

Distribution	Package manager / base	Equivalent command	Difference to notice
Debian/Ubuntu	apt/dpkg	`apt list --installed \| grep PACKAGE`	dpkg -l is lower-level and also common.
Fedora	dnf/rpm	`dnf list installed \| grep PACKAGE`	rpm -qa is the lower-level RPM database query.
Arch	pacman	`pacman -Q \| grep PACKAGE`	pacman -Q lists installed native packages.

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