Ubuntu – How to check if a software is installed

From Ubuntu 12.10, Greetings

How to check if a software is installed in Ubuntu. There are two methods explained here.

METHOD 1: FROM TERMINAL
METHOD 2: USING GUI – FROM “UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER”

METHOD 1: FROM TERMINAL
To check whether a software is installed, perform the following steps.

STEP 1 :
Open the terminal. You can find the terminal from your Launcher or Dash home.
Go to Dash home and type in the searchbox “terminal”, you will be able to find the application in the result. Click to open it.

STEP 2:

Change to root user. Use the command “sudo -s” and provide your user password.

NOTE: In the screenshot below, “SATISH” is the username . “Rio” is the name of the computer.

STEP 3:

Execute “dpkg -s <package name>”.

NOTE: Package name is the name of the ‘software installation setup’ which in most cases will be same as the software name. In some scenarios, the package name might be slightly different from the software name.

The above mentioned command will help you to reveal whether a software is installed in Ubuntu. The output would be something like this.

NOTE: The output might run a little long, that it might make you miss viewing the INSTALL STATUS. In that case, just scroll above to see the installation status. Generally Installation Status will be displayed at the very second line like in the screenshot above.

METHOD 2: USING GUI – FROM “UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER”
STEP 1:
Go to Dash home and type in the searchbox “ubuntu software center”, you will be able to find the application in the result. Click to open it.