Can anyone please define what exactly the APT cache is?
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3[`apt-cache`'s manual](http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/precise/en/man8/apt-cache.8.html), maybe this can help out a bit, while waiting for someone to give you a better answer? – Dan Aug 27 '12 at 13:56
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Are you referring to the terminal command 'apt-cache'? – loklaan Aug 27 '12 at 14:00
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The heading says `apt-cache` and not "APT cache", then also there's the `command-line` tag and also the only question to date which describes the command is almost as much upvoted as the question, so I must suppose the question refers to the command. But what is the "APT cache" used for? That's a very legit question. I asked it [here](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1321028/whats-the-point-of-keeping-packages-in-apt-cache). – Martin Andersson Mar 04 '21 at 09:56
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apt-cache is a command to manipulate and obtain information from the packages at apt's cache.
It creates a repository of information about the packages that are avaiable from your sources list, so this way you can search packages and information about it.
Let's say you want to install a chat program but you don't know the name of a package for it.
You would open a console and type:
sudo apt-cache search chat
This would return a list of packages available and that refer to the word chat.
Typical operations with apt-cache:
apt-cache add
Adds a package file to the source cache.
apt-cache gencaches
Builds both the package and source cache
apt-cache showpkg
Show some general information for a single package
apt-cache stats
Show some basic statistics
apt-cache dump
Show the entire file in a terse form
apt-cache dumpavail
Print an available file to stdout
apt-cache unmet
Show unmet dependencies
apt-cache check
Check the cache a bit
apt-cache search
Search the package list for a regex pattern
apt-cache show
Show a readable record for the package
apt-cache depends
Show raw dependency information for a package
apt-cache pkgnames
List the names of all packages
apt-cache dotty
Generate package graphs for GraphVis
Don't forget to add package name after the commands listed above.
