apt vs yum vs dnf: Package Manager Equivalents

Commands learned on one Linux distribution don't work on another because package managers have different syntax for equivalent operations.

Reference equivalent commands across apt (Debian/Ubuntu), yum (RHEL/CentOS 7), and dnf (RHEL/CentOS 8+, Fedora).

# Update package index
apt update                    # Debian/Ubuntu
yum check-update              # RHEL/CentOS 7
dnf check-update              # RHEL/CentOS 8+

# Install a package
apt install nginx             # Debian
yum install nginx             # RHEL 7
dnf install nginx             # RHEL 8+

# Remove (keep config)
apt remove nginx
yum remove nginx
dnf remove nginx

# Remove with config (purge)
apt purge nginx
# yum/dnf don't have purge — config files stay

# Search for a package
apt search keyword
yum search keyword
dnf search keyword

# List installed packages
dpkg -l | grep nginx          # Debian
rpm -qa | grep nginx          # RHEL

# Which package provides a file
apt-file search /usr/bin/dig  # apt-file must be installed
yum provides /usr/bin/dig
dnf provides /usr/bin/dig

apt, yum, and dnf all wrap lower-level tools (dpkg, rpm). The high-level package managers handle dependencies and repositories; the low-level tools handle the actual package database.