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-rw-r--r--doc/manual/command-ref/nix-env.xml117
1 files changed, 95 insertions, 22 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-env.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-env.xml
index 1db71f75e..f8af6e954 100644
--- a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-env.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-env.xml
@@ -68,6 +68,75 @@ be performed. These are documented below.</para>
<!--######################################################################-->
+<refsection><title>Selectors</title>
+
+<para>Several commands, such as <command>nix-env -q</command> and
+<command>nix-env -i</command>, take a list of arguments that specify
+the packages on which to operate. These are extended regular
+expressions that must match the entire name of the package. (For
+details on regular expressions, see
+<citerefentry><refentrytitle>regex</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.)
+The match is case-sensitive. The regular expression can optionally be
+followed by a dash and a version number; if omitted, any version of
+the package will match. Here are some examples:
+
+<variablelist>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>firefox</literal></term>
+ <listitem><para>Matches the package name
+ <literal>firefox</literal> and any version.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>firefox-32.0</literal></term>
+ <listitem><para>Matches the package name
+ <literal>firefox</literal> and version
+ <literal>32.0</literal>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>gtk\\+</literal></term>
+ <listitem><para>Matches the package name
+ <literal>gtk+</literal>. The <literal>+</literal> character must
+ be escaped using a backslash to prevent it from being interpreted
+ as a quantifier, and the backslash must be escaped in turn with
+ another backslash to ensure that the shell passes it
+ on.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>.\*</literal></term>
+ <listitem><para>Matches any package name. This is the default for
+ most commands.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>'.*zip.*'</literal></term>
+ <listitem><para>Matches any package name containing the string
+ <literal>zip</literal>. Note the dots: <literal>'*zip*'</literal>
+ does not work, because in a regular expression, the character
+ <literal>*</literal> is interpreted as a
+ quantifier.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>'.*(firefox|chromium).*'</literal></term>
+ <listitem><para>Matches any package name containing the strings
+ <literal>firefox</literal> or
+ <literal>chromium</literal>.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
<refsection><title>Common options</title>
<para>This section lists the options that are common to all
@@ -262,7 +331,7 @@ number of possible ways:
<emphasis>attribute paths</emphasis> that select attributes from the
top-level Nix expression. This is faster than using derivation
names and unambiguous. To find out the attribute paths of available
- packages, use <literal>nix-env -qaP '*'</literal>.</para></listitem>
+ packages, use <literal>nix-env -qaP</literal>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>If <option>--from-profile</option>
<replaceable>path</replaceable> is given,
@@ -326,7 +395,7 @@ number of possible ways:
<term><option>-r</option></term>
<listitem><para>Remove all previously installed packages first.
- This is equivalent to running <literal>nix-env -e '*'</literal>
+ This is equivalent to running <literal>nix-env -e '.*'</literal>
first, except that everything happens in a single
transaction.</para></listitem>
@@ -369,7 +438,7 @@ $ nix-env -i -A xorg.xorgserver</screen>
<para>To install all derivations in the Nix expression <filename>foo.nix</filename>:
<screen>
-$ nix-env -f ~/foo.nix -i '*'</screen>
+$ nix-env -f ~/foo.nix -i '.*'</screen>
</para>
@@ -537,7 +606,7 @@ upgrading `gcc-3.4' to `gcc-3.3.2'
$ nix-env --upgrade pan
<lineannotation>(no upgrades available, so nothing happens)</lineannotation>
-$ nix-env -u '*' <lineannotation>(try to upgrade everything)</lineannotation>
+$ nix-env -u <lineannotation>(try to upgrade everything)</lineannotation>
upgrading `hello-2.1.2' to `hello-2.1.3'
upgrading `mozilla-1.2' to `mozilla-1.4'</screen>
@@ -624,7 +693,7 @@ paths designated by the symbolic names
<screen>
$ nix-env --uninstall gcc
-$ nix-env -e '*' <lineannotation>(remove everything)</lineannotation></screen>
+$ nix-env -e '.*' <lineannotation>(remove everything)</lineannotation></screen>
</refsection>
@@ -700,7 +769,7 @@ After this, <command>nix-env -u</command> will ignore Firefox.</para>
Firefox while the old remains part of the profile:
<screen>
-$ nix-env -q \*
+$ nix-env -q
firefox-2.0.0.9 <lineannotation>(the current one)</lineannotation>
$ nix-env --preserve-installed -i firefox-2.0.0.11
@@ -716,7 +785,7 @@ setting flag on `firefox-2.0.0.9'
$ nix-env --preserve-installed -i firefox-2.0.0.11
installing `firefox-2.0.0.11'
-$ nix-env -q \*
+$ nix-env -q
firefox-2.0.0.11 <lineannotation>(the enabled one)</lineannotation>
firefox-2.0.0.9 <lineannotation>(the disabled one)</lineannotation></screen>
@@ -817,8 +886,7 @@ profile (<option>--installed</option>), or the derivations that are
available for installation in the active Nix expression
(<option>--available</option>). It only prints information about
derivations whose symbolic name matches one of
-<replaceable>names</replaceable>. The wildcard <literal>*</literal>
-shows all derivations.</para>
+<replaceable>names</replaceable>.</para>
<para>The derivations are sorted by their <literal>name</literal>
attributes.</para>
@@ -1024,7 +1092,7 @@ user environment elements, etc. -->
<refsection><title>Examples</title>
<screen>
-$ nix-env -q '*' <lineannotation>(show installed derivations)</lineannotation>
+$ nix-env -q <lineannotation>(show installed derivations)</lineannotation>
bison-1.875c
docbook-xml-4.2
firefox-1.0.4
@@ -1032,14 +1100,14 @@ MPlayer-1.0pre7
ORBit2-2.8.3
...
-$ nix-env -qa '*' <lineannotation>(show available derivations)</lineannotation>
+$ nix-env -qa <lineannotation>(show available derivations)</lineannotation>
firefox-1.0.7
GConf-2.4.0.1
MPlayer-1.0pre7
ORBit2-2.8.3
...
-$ nix-env -qas '*' <lineannotation>(show status of available derivations)</lineannotation>
+$ nix-env -qas <lineannotation>(show status of available derivations)</lineannotation>
-P- firefox-1.0.7 <lineannotation>(not installed but present)</lineannotation>
--S GConf-2.4.0.1 <lineannotation>(not present, but there is a substitute for fast installation)</lineannotation>
--S MPlayer-1.0pre3 <lineannotation>(i.e., this is not the installed MPlayer, even though the version is the same!)</lineannotation>
@@ -1047,24 +1115,29 @@ IP- ORBit2-2.8.3 <lineannotation>(installed and by definition present)</linea
...
<lineannotation>(show available derivations in the Nix expression <!-- !!! <filename>-->foo.nix<!-- </filename> -->)</lineannotation>
-$ nix-env -f ./foo.nix -qa '*'
+$ nix-env -f ./foo.nix -qa
foo-1.2.3
-$ nix-env -qc '*' <lineannotation>(compare installed versions to what’s available)</lineannotation>
+$ nix-env -qc <lineannotation>(compare installed versions to what’s available)</lineannotation>
<replaceable>...</replaceable>
acrobat-reader-7.0 - ? <lineannotation>(package is not available at all)</lineannotation>
autoconf-2.59 = 2.59 <lineannotation>(same version)</lineannotation>
firefox-1.0.4 &lt; 1.0.7 <lineannotation>(a more recent version is available)</lineannotation>
<replaceable>...</replaceable>
-<lineannotation>(show info about a specific package, in XML)</lineannotation>
-$ nix-env -qa --xml --description firefox
-<![CDATA[<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
-<items>
- <item attrPath="0.0.firefoxWrapper"
- description="Mozilla Firefox - the browser, reloaded (with various plugins)"
- name="firefox-1.5.0.7" system="i686-linux" />
-</items>]]></screen>
+$ nix-env -qa '.*zip.*' <lineannotation>(show all packages with “zip” in the name)</lineannotation>
+bzip2-1.0.6
+gzip-1.6
+zip-3.0
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+
+$ nix-env -qa '.*(firefox|chromium).*' <lineannotation>(show all packages with “firefox” or “chromium” in the name)</lineannotation>
+chromium-37.0.2062.94
+chromium-beta-38.0.2125.24
+firefox-32.0.3
+firefox-with-plugins-13.0.1
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+</screen>
</refsection>