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I'm new to Ubuntu and would like to know where I can find the location of program files for programs installed from the Ubuntu Software Center or the Terminal.

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  • If you prefer/use RPM on Ubuntu, you can also use rpm –ql [package] to get a list. This method also happens to work on most Fedora and RHEL distros.
    – Ray Foss
    Dec 19, 2017 at 14:42

6 Answers 6

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Also, if you just need to know where the executable is you can run whereis executable or which executable For instance: 

$ whereis firefox
firefox: /usr/bin/firefox /etc/firefox /usr/lib/firefox /usr/share/man/man1/firefox.1.gz

$ which firefox
/usr/bin/firefox
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on the command line, you can use dpkg --listfiles packagename. For instance, dpkg --listfiles firefox. If you want to see what files a package contains without installing it, then you can install apt-file and use that.

But you really shouldn't mess with it. There is usually no reason to manually interfere with the contents of a package. All configuration files for normal applications are placed in the users home directory. You don't have savegames in C:\Programfiles\Appname\savegames, for instance. They would be placed in /home/username/.local/share/appname/savegames. That way, if you move your home directory to another machine, it keeps all configurations and user data.

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  • This command says "package 'sdl' is not installed"; But this command: "dpkg --get-selections | grep sdl" returned : libsdl-image1.2:amd64 install ---- libsdl1.2debian:amd64 install ---- libsdl2-2.0-0:amd64 install ---- libsdl2-dev install
    – Dr.jacky
    Dec 19, 2015 at 6:48
  • The OP wants to know where the installation directory containing the app files is located. He did not ask for a list of files in a package.
    – Hedley Finger
    Nov 6, 2018 at 8:51
  • @HedleyFinger: There is no such thing as the "installation directory". Each app has files stored in many different directories for different types of files. /etc for default configs, /usr/bin for binaries, /usr/lib for libraries, etc. The command I showed, shows where all app files are installed.
    – Jo-Erlend Schinstad
    Nov 7, 2018 at 16:51
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http://packages.ubuntu.com/natty/i386/banshee/filelist

or

dpkg -L banshee

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If you do not find the command with whereis or which then maybe it is an alias. Try

alias

and check if the command is in the list.

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Use the synaptic-package-manager:

synaptic Package Manager (GUI)

Assuming that we'd like to locate the files of the autotools-dev package, under 'Quick filter' enter autotools to locate it. The autotools-dev package appears automatically. Select it by clicking on it and then press 'Properties'. In the appearing dialog select the tab 'Installed Files'.

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  • 4
    You should also say how to get the desired information!
    – guntbert
    May 5, 2016 at 18:17
  • 2
    I appreciate the screen shot and think this answer is a useful addition. It shouldn't be down voted.
    – David Parks
    Jan 16, 2017 at 21:58
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The builtin Bash command, called command is also available:

 command [-pVv] command [arguments …]

Examples of usage:

$ command -v cat
/bin/cat

$ command -V cat
cat is /bin/cat

When the searched command is an alias:

$ command -v ll
alias ll='ls -alF'

$ command -V ll
ll is aliased to `ls -alF'
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