How to use the command 'brew search' (with examples)

The ‘brew search’ command is used to search for casks and formulae in Homebrew, a package manager for macOS. It allows users to find packages based on keywords or regular expressions, and provides options to search through descriptions and filter the search for either formulae or casks.

Use case 1: Search for casks and formulae using a keyword

Code:

brew search keyword

Motivation: This use case is useful when you know the keyword for the package you are looking for and want to quickly find it in Homebrew.

Explanation:

• ‘brew search’ is the command that initiates the search in Homebrew.
• ‘keyword’ is the specific word you want to search for in the casks and formulae.

Example output:

==> Formulae
caskroom/cask/brew-cask                caskroom/cask/cask-alfred             caskroom/cask/cask-versions
==> Casks
alfred                                 alfred-powerpack                       heroku

Use case 2: Search for casks and formulae using a regular expression

Code:

brew search /regular_expression/

Motivation: Using a regular expression allows you to perform a more advanced search for casks and formulae in Homebrew. This is useful if you need to match patterns or search for packages based on specific criteria.

Explanation:

• ‘brew search’ is the command that initiates the search in Homebrew.
• ‘/regular_expression/’ is the regular expression pattern you want to search for in the casks and formulae.

Example output:

==> Formulae
apache-activemq
rabbitmq
==> Casks
razer-synapse

Use case 3: Enable searching through descriptions

Code:

brew search --desc keyword

Motivation: Sometimes, searching for a keyword in the package names alone might not give you the desired results. Enabling the search through descriptions allows you to find specific packages based on their descriptions.

Explanation:

• ‘brew search’ is the command that initiates the search in Homebrew.
• ‘–desc’ is the option that enables the search through descriptions.
• ‘keyword’ is the specific word you want to search for in the descriptions of casks and formulae.

Example output:

==> Formulae
caskroom/cask/telegram-desktop                       Telegram Desktop is a messaging app
==> Casks
telegram                                              Telegram messaging platform

Use case 4: Only search for formulae

Code:

brew search --formula keyword

Motivation: If you are specifically interested in searching and finding formulae, and not casks, using the ‘–formula’ option will filter the search results accordingly.

Explanation:

• ‘brew search’ is the command that initiates the search in Homebrew.
• ‘–formula’ is the option that filters the search to only look for formulae.
• ‘keyword’ is the specific word you want to search for in the formulae.

Example output:

==> Formulae
git                                          Distributed revision control system
git-lfs                                      Git extension for versioning large files

Use case 5: Only search for casks

Code:

brew search --cask keyword

Motivation: Similar to the previous use case, if your focus is on finding casks and not formulae, using the ‘–cask’ option will narrow down the search results to only casks.

Explanation:

• ‘brew search’ is the command that initiates the search in Homebrew.
• ‘–cask’ is the option that filters the search to only look for casks.
• ‘keyword’ is the specific word you want to search for in the casks.

Example output:

==> Casks
docker                                               Open platform for distributed applications
virtualbox                                           Powerful x86 virtualization for developers

Conclusion:

The ‘brew search’ command is a versatile tool for searching casks and formulae in Homebrew. Whether you want to search using keywords or regular expressions, filter based on descriptions, or focus on finding only formulae or casks, the various options and use cases provide flexibility and efficiency to discover and install packages.