How do I list all installed packages using rpm command on CentOS/Suse/Fedora/RHEL/Scientific and Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

The rpm command is a powerful Package Manager, which can be used to build, install, query, verify, update, and erase individual software packages. The latest version of Red hat and friends recommend using the yum command.

rpm 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
.....
..
....

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.

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

See also

• Man pages: rpm(8), yum(8)