Unable to install any package

Question

When I try to install ANY application through terminal, I get this error:

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Read error - read (21: Is a directory)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

And software center is also not opening.

Neither is Synaptic Package Manager. It gives the following error when I try to open it:

E: Read error - read (21: Is a directory)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

Solutions I tried so far, but didn't fix the problem:

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_restricted_binary-amd64_Packages
sudo apt-get update

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get update

Any suggestions? I cannot even use apt-get install.

Answer 1

/var/lib/dpkg/status

/var/lib/dpkg/available

/var/lib/dpkg/diversions

check the files above, if the files not exists, create an empty file.

command to create empty file sudo touch /var/lib/dpkg/status