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nix classic — A classic, stable interface to a powerful package manager that makes package management reliable, re

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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Problem

How to use the nix classic command: A classic, stable interface to a powerful package manager that makes package management reliable, reproducible, and declarative. Some Nix commands such as nix-build, nix-shell, nix-env, and nix-store have their own pages. See also: nix. More information: <https://nixos.org/>.

Solution

nix classic — A classic, stable interface to a powerful package manager that makes package management reliable, reproducible, and declarative. Some Nix commands such as nix-build, nix-shell, nix-env, and nix-store have their own pages. See also: nix. More information: <https://nixos.org/>.

Search for a package in nixpkgs via its name:

nix-env {{[-qaP|--query --available --attr-path]}} {{search_term_regex}}

Start a shell with the specified packages available:

nix-shell {{[-p|--packages]}} {{pkg1 pkg2 pkg3 ...}}

Install some packages permanently:

nix-env {{[-iA|--install --attr]}} {{nixpkgs.pkg1 nixpkgs.pkg2 ...}}

Show all dependencies of a store path (package), in a tree format:

nix-store {{[-q|--query]}} --tree /nix/store/{{checksum-package-version.ext}}

Update the channels (repositories):

nix-channel --update

Remove unused paths from Nix store:

nix-collect-garbage

Code Snippets

Search for a package in nixpkgs via its name

nix-env {{[-qaP|--query --available --attr-path]}} {{search_term_regex}}

Start a shell with the specified packages available

nix-shell {{[-p|--packages]}} {{pkg1 pkg2 pkg3 ...}}

Install some packages permanently

nix-env {{[-iA|--install --attr]}} {{nixpkgs.pkg1 nixpkgs.pkg2 ...}}

Show all dependencies of a store path (package), in a tree format

nix-store {{[-q|--query]}} --tree /nix/store/{{checksum-package-version.ext}}

Update the channels (repositories)

nix-channel --update

Context

tldr-pages: common/nix classic

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