Sometimes you just need to know what files are included in a particular package. The DNF command, like yum and rpm before it, provides a simple way to list files in a package. In this Linux quick tip we will show you how to list all files included in a package.

Listing files in a package is quite simple with the DNF package manager. Simply use repoquery with the -l option followed by the name of the package. For example, let's see what games are provided in the bsd-games package.

[mcherisi@putor ~]$ dnf repoquery -l bsd-games
Last metadata expiration check: 0:07:58 ago on Sun 14 Feb 2021 03:53:27 PM EST.
/usr/bin/adventure
/usr/bin/arithmetic
/usr/bin/atc
/usr/bin/backgammon
/usr/bin/battlestar
/usr/bin/bcd
/usr/bin/boggle
...OUTPUT TRUNCATED...

You can also use good ole' rpm. Just use the query -q combined with the list -l options followed by the package name.

[mcherisi@putor ~]$ rpm -ql bsd-games
/usr/bin/adventure
/usr/bin/arithmetic
/usr/bin/atc
/usr/bin/backgammon
/usr/bin/battlestar
/usr/bin/bcd
...OUTPUT TRUNCATED...

If you still using YUM, you need to install a package to see the contents of packages. Ironic isn't it? To list files in a package with yum simply install the yum-utils package like so:

sudo yum install yum-utils

Now you can use the repoquery command with the -l option to list files in a package.

[mcherisi@putor ~]$ repoquery -l bsd-games
Last metadata expiration check: 0:17:35 ago on Sun 14 Feb 2021 03:53:27 PM EST.
/usr/bin/adventure
/usr/bin/arithmetic
/usr/bin/atc
/usr/bin/backgammon
/usr/bin/battlestar
/usr/bin/bcd
/usr/bin/boggle

Resources and Further Reading