Linux rpm list installed packages command syntax

The rpm command has -a option to query (list) all installed packages.

List all installed packages using rpm -a option

Open the Terminal or login to the remote server using ssh client. Type the following command as root user:
# rpm -qa
Sample outputs:

filesystem-2.4.0-1
comps-extras-11.1-1.1
gnome-mime-data-2.4.2-3.1
glibc-2.5-12
atk-1.12.2-1.fc6
libICE-1.0.1-2.1
db4-4.3.29-9.fc6
elfutils-libelf-0.125-3.el5
ncurses-5.5-24.20060715
libsepol-1.15.2-1.el5
libcap-1.10-26
sqlite-3.3.6-2
pcre-6.6-1.1
gdbm-1.8.0-26.2.1
libsepol-1.15.2-1.el5
libXdmcp-1.0.1-2.1
db4-4.3.29-9.fc6
iptables-1.3.5-1.2.1
libXrender-0.9.1-3.1
libXi-1.0.1-3.1
xorg-x11-font-utils-7.1-2
slang-2.0.6-4.el
.....
..
....

One can list installation date too as follows:
rpm -qa --qf '(%{INSTALLTIME:date}): %{NAME}-%{VERSION}\n
Sample outputs:

(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:54:48 PM IST): python-jinja2-2.7.2
(Saturday 27 January 2018 08:46:16 PM IST): python-markupsafe-0.11
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:53:12 PM IST): nss-pem-1.0.3
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:54:50 PM IST): neon-0.30.0
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:53:12 PM IST): rpm-python-4.11.3
(Friday 21 September 2018 05:10:19 AM IST): python34-msgpack-0.5.6
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:54:50 PM IST): iwl6000-firmware-9.221.4.1
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:53:13 PM IST): make-3.82
(Wednesday 29 November 2017 12:57:00 AM IST): gettext-0.19.8.1
(Sunday 25 June 2017 07:08:26 PM IST): ppp-2.4.5
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:54:51 PM IST): iwl1000-firmware-39.31.5.1
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:53:14 PM IST): libgfortran-4.8.5
(Sunday 02 July 2017 02:11:41 AM IST): mtools-4.0.18
(Wednesday 05 December 2018 06:54:19 AM IST): radvd-2.17
(Sunday 25 June 2017 07:08:28 PM IST): alsa-firmware-1.0.28
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:54:53 PM IST): libgcc-4.8.5
(Thursday 10 May 2018 02:10:20 PM IST): opus-1.0.2
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:53:17 PM IST): passwd-0.79
(Tuesday 17 September 2019 11:54:56 PM IST): rdma-core-22.1

Getting info about specific packages

You can display more information about package using the following command:
# rpm -qi iptables
Sample outputs:

Name        : iptables                     Relocations: /usr 
Version     : 1.3.5                             Vendor: Red Hat, Inc.
Release     : 1.2.1                         Build Date: Thu 13 Jul 2006 07:17:24 PM CDT
Install Date: Tue 10 Jul 2007 08:49:20 AM CDT      Build Host: ls20-bc2-14.build.redhat.com
Group       : System Environment/Base       Source RPM: iptables-1.3.5-1.2.1.src.rpm
Size        : 676805                           License: GPL
Signature   : DSA/SHA1, Thu 18 Jan 2007 09:47:22 AM CST, Key ID 5326810137017186
Packager    : Red Hat, Inc. 
URL         : http://www.netfilter.org/
Summary     : Tools for managing Linux kernel packet filtering capabilities.
Description :
The iptables utility controls the network packet filtering code in the
Linux kernel. If you need to set up firewalls and/or IP masquerading,
you should install this package.

List all files installed by the RPM package

You can list package files using the following command:
# rpm -ql iptables
Sample outputs:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/iptables
/etc/sysconfig/iptables-config
/lib64/iptables
/lib64/iptables/libipt_CLASSIFY.so
/lib64/iptables/libipt_CONNMARK.so
/lib64/iptables/libipt_DNAT.so
/lib64/iptables/libipt_DSCP.so
/lib64/iptables/libipt_ECN.so
.....
.......
...

Feel free to add pager such as less or more to display output one screen at a time:
# rpm -qa | less
# rpm -qa | more
# rpm -qa | grep 'something'
# rpm -ql iptables | more
Want to find out the installation date of a specific package, for example nginx, run:
# rpm -q --last nginx
package nginx is not installed
# rpm -q --last ufw
ufw-0.35-9.el7.noarch Thursday 21 June 2018 11:33:26 PM IST


List installed RPM packages using yum or dnf on Linux

Run the following as the root user (use the grep command or more command as pager/filters):
# yum list installed
# yum list installed | more
# yum list installed | grep nginx

For Fedora and latest version of the CentOS/RHEL 8.x use the dnf command
# dnf list installed
# dnf list installed | less
# dnf list installed | grep -i mysql

Count all installed RPM packages using yum/dnf in Linux

Pass the yum command output to the wc command to count installed packages on CentOS or RHEL or SUSE:
# yum list installed | wc -l
# dnf list installed | wc -l

List all installed packages in RHEL, CentOS, Oracle and Fedora Linux

Another option is to type the following rpmquery command. However, first install dnf-utils/yum-utils package:
# dnf install dnf-utils ## <-- Fedora latest or CentOS/RHEL 8x. -- ##
# yum install yum-utils ## <-- CentOS/RHEL 6.x/7.x -- ##
Next, type the following command:
# repoquery -a --installed
# repoquery -a --installed | grep httpd
# repoquery -a --installed | more

It is also possible to list installed packages from a particular repo such as epel repo on CentOS/RHEL 7 or ELEP repo on RHEL 8 or EPEL repo on CentOS 8. First, get the repo id, run:
# yum repolist
Sample outputs:

Loaded plugins: changelog, copr
repo id                          repo name                                             status
base/7/x86_64                    CentOS-7 - Base                                       10,097
epel/x86_64                      Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - x86_64        13,501
extras/7/x86_64                  CentOS-7 - Extras                                        307
ngompa-snapcore-el7/x86_64       Copr repo for snapcore-el7 owned by ngompa                19
updates/7/x86_64                 CentOS-7 - Updates                                     1,010
repolist: 24,934

Note down repo id such as base, epel, extras and so on. Finally list all installed packages from epel repo:
yumdb search from_repo reop_id_here
yumdb search from_repo extras
yumdb search from_repo epel

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to list all installed rpm packages on CentOS, RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), SUSE/OpenSUSE and other rpm based distros using rpm and dnf/yum command that print a list of all installed packages on your distro. See rpm man page here.

• Man pages: yum(8)