Check if an apt-get package is installed and then install it if it's not on Linux

Question

I\'m working on a Ubuntu system and currently this is what I\'m doing:

if ! which command > /dev/null; then
   echo -e \"Command not found! Install? (y/n)         


        

Answer 1

To check if packagename was installed, type:

dpkg -s 

You can also use dpkg-query that has a neater output for your purpose, and accepts wild cards, too.

dpkg-query -l 

To find what package owns the command, try:

dpkg -S `which `

For further details, see article Find out if package is installed in Linux and dpkg cheat sheet.