aptitude search

Note: from manual of aptitude. Put here just for myself.....
search:

           Searches for packages matching one of the patterns supplied on the command line. All packages which match any of the given patterns will be displayed; for instance, “aptitude           search ´~N´ edit” will list all “new” packages and all packages whose name contains  “edit”.

           Unless you pass the -F option, the output of aptitude search will look something like   this:

    i   apt                             - Advanced front-end for dpkg
    pi  apt-build                       - frontend to apt to build, optimize and in
    cp  apt-file                        - APT package searching utility -- command-
    ihA raptor-utils                    - Raptor RDF Parser utilities

           Each search result is listed on a separate line. The first character of each line indicates the current state of the package: the most common states are p, meaning that no  trace of the package exists on the system, c, meaning that the package was deleted but its configuration files remain on the system, i, meaning that the package is installed, and v, meaning that the package is virtual.
       The second character indicates the stored action (if  any; otherwise a blank space is displayed) to be performed on the package, with the most  common actions being i, meaning that the package will be installed, d, meaning that the   package will be deleted, and p, meaning that the package and its configuration files will be removed. If the third character is A, the package was automatically installed.