#203 Tips and Tricks

I often use Homebrew to manage software installations on my Mac.

This is a collection of tips and tricks… basically things I use occasionally but always forget in the meantime.

Checking if a Package is Installed

Trick: use brew ls --versions to attempt to report on installed packages

I have mongodb installed:

$ brew ls --versions mongodb | grep -q mongodb
$ echo $?
0

But I don’t have talloc installed:

$ brew ls --versions talloc | grep -q talloc
$ echo $?
1

Combining a check for brew along with a check for a package

if [ $(which brew) ]
then
  brew_talloc_version=$(brew ls --versions talloc)
else
  brew_talloc_version="brew not installed"
fi
if echo "${brew_talloc_version}" | grep -q "talloc"
then
  echo "brew has talloc installed: ${brew_talloc_version}"
else
  brew install talloc
fi

Credits and References

• Homebrew
• homebrew
• SO: Detect if homebrew package is installed