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I have installed google earth. I believe I did it through their website. I'm sure its named something along the lines of google-earth. Every time I do apt update i get an annoying message:

N: Skipping acquire of configured file 'main/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb stable InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386'

So, I intend to uninstall the program and try to re-install it. It does not show up in software center.

I found instructions for searching program names via:

sudo apt search <part-of-name-with-an-asterisk*>

being lazy, I typed:

sudo apt search earth*

this resulted in a very, very long list of programs that did not have "earth" in the filename.

Typing:

sudo apt search google-earth-pro

resulted in one program returned from the query. The correct one:

google-earth-pro-stable/stable,now 7.3.2.5494-r0 amd64 [installed] Explore, search and discover the planet

Now I can uninstall, however...

Now I'm confused as to why the first attempt yielded different results. If in the future I need to find the exact program name to be able to uninstall it, what is the correct procedure? I'm sure there are many ways to accomplish this, but I feel like I was just being lucky.

Lets say there is a complicated filename 24ewftw2ecw-24wfrew-f2ec or something, and all i can remember about the file was that it had ftw in it somewhere... What is an appropriate method?

What is an appropriate use for using the asterisk on apt search?

Thanks in advance!

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    You might have better luck with apt-cache policy when looking for specific apps. Try apt-cache policy *earth*
    – Terrance
    Oct 5, 2018 at 3:49
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    To get rid of your 'annoying message', limit the ARCH to amd64 for the google repo, ie. deb [arch=amd64] http... (note: I'm assuming here you're using AMD64, as google no longer support i386)
    – guiverc
    Oct 5, 2018 at 3:53
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    @SirTwis7 You are typing in the *earth* correct? Without the asterisks it will not search for anything
    – Terrance
    Oct 5, 2018 at 3:54
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    @guiverc I wish that were as easy as that to fix. I had to keep changing and adding that back on as something would change it back to without the [arch=amd64] and I haven't found an answer to keep that yet. Grrrrr
    – Terrance
    Oct 5, 2018 at 3:56
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    Yeah, sometimes you have to play with them till you find it. Asterisk at the beginning means find anything with whatever then the word. Asterisk at the end means starting with that word then ending with whatever. Asterisk on both sides means find all with the word in it where ever.
    – Terrance
    Oct 5, 2018 at 4:06

1 Answer 1

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results from query contain "earth"

apt-cache policy *earth* 

results from query start with "earth"f

apt-cache policy earth* 

results from query end with "earth"

apt-cache policy *earth 

you can generate a list of program names this way:

apt search earth

you cannot use an asterisk before the string:

apt search *earth   //This will not work.

you can use an asterisk afterward, but it appears to be redundant:

apt search earth*   //generates the same results as "apt search earth"

apt search will return packages that are both installed and not installed

apt-cache policy will return all of the same, but will tell you whether or not it is installed.

Huge shout out to @Terrance

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