expac

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=head1 NAME

expac - alpm data extraction utility

=head1 SYNOPSIS

Usage: I [options] EformatE targets...

=head1 DESCRIPTION

expac is a data extraction tool for alpm databases. It features printf-like flexibility and aims to be used as a simple tool for other pacman based utilities which don't link against the library. It uses pacman.conf as a config file for locating and loading your local and sync databases.

Invoking expac consists of supplying a format string, which is generally described by one to many of the formatting tokens (see the B<FORMATTING> section), any relevant options and zero to many targets. The format string B be the first non-option argument. Targets can be a simple package name, a query string (in the case of a search), or in repo/package syntax when the -sync option is supplied.

=head1 OPTIONS

=over 4

=item B<-Q, --query>

Search the local database for provided targets. This is the default behavior.

=item B<-S, --sync>

Search the sync databases for provided targets.

=item B<-s, --search>

Search for packages matching the strings specified by targets. This is a boolean AND query and regex is allowed.

=item B<-g, --group>

Return packages matching the specified targets as package groups.

=item B<--config>

Read from I for alpm initialization instead of I</etc/pacman.conf>.

=item B<-H, --humansize>

Format package sizes in SI units according to I. Valid options are:

B, K, M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y

=item B<-1, --readone>

Stop searching after the first result. This only has an effect on -S operations without -s.

=item B<-d, --delim>

Separate each package with the specified I. The default value is a newline character.

=item B<-l, --listdelim>

Separate each list item with the specified I. Lists are any interpreted sequence specified with a capital letter. The default value is two spaces.

=item B<-p, --file>

Interpret targets as paths to local files.

=item B<-t, --timefmt>

Output time described by the specified I. This string is passed directly to strftime(3). The default format is %c.

=item B<-v, --verbose>

Output more. `Package not found' errors will be shown, and empty field values will display as 'None'.

=item B<-V, --version>

Display version information and quit.

=item B<-h, --help>

Display the help message and quit.

=back

=head1 FORMATTING

The format argument allows the following interpreted sequences:

%a architecture

%B backup files

%b build date

%C conflicts with (no version strings)

%D depends on

%d description

%E depends on (no version strings)

%e package base

%f filename (only with -S)

%F files (only with -Q)

%g base64 encoded PGP signature (only with -S)

%G groups

%H conflicts with

%h sha256sum

%i has install scriptlet (only with -Q)

%k download size (only with -S)

%l install date (only with -Q)

%L licenses

%m install size

%M modified backup files (only with -Q)

%n package name

%N required by

%O optional deps

%o optional deps (no descriptions)

%p packager name

%P provides

%R replaces (no version strings)

%r repo

%s md5sum

%S provides (no version strings)

%T replaces

%u project URL

%V package validation method

%v version

%w install reason (only with -Q)

%! result number (auto-incremented counter, starts at 0)

%% literal %

Note that for any lowercase tokens aside from %m and %k, full printf support is allowed, e.g. %-20n. This does not apply to any list based, date, or numerical output.

Standard backslash escape sequences are supported, as per printf(1).

=head1 EXAMPLES

Emulate pacman's search function:

=over 4

$ expac -Ss '%r/%n %v\n %d'

=back

List the oldest 10 installed packages (by build date):

=over 4

$ expac --timefmt=%s '%b\t%n' | sort -n | head -10

=back

=head1 AUTHOR

Dave Reisner E[email protected]