Check if a Debian package is installed from Python

Question

Is there an elegant and more Python-like way to check if a package is installed on Debian?

In a bash script, I\'d do:

dpkg -s packagename | grep Stat         


        

Answer 1

This is some code that would give you a neat way to display if the package is installed or not (without triggering a messy error message on the screen). This works in Python 3 only, though.

import apt
cache = apt.Cache()
cache.open()

response = "Package Installed."
try:
    cache['notapkg'].is_installed
except KeyError:
    response = "Package Not Installed."

print(response)