Showing all installed programs in Ubuntu

Just for fun

Since OP mentioned: from which I can launch a program from a list of all program installed?

Below a small script that lists all (globally) installed GUI applications. Choose one to launch it, or type a few of its characters and press Return to run the application:

To use

• Copy the script below into an empty file, save it as list_apps.py

• Test- run it by the command (open a terminal window, type the command and press Return):

  python3 /path/to/list_apps.py
  

• If all works fine, add it to a shortcut key: choose: System Settings > "Keyboard" > "Shortcuts" > "Custom Shortcuts". Click the "+" and add the command:

  python3 /pat/to/list_apps.py
  

  to a shortcut key combination you like.

The script

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import os

dr = "/usr/share/applications"

apps = []

for f in [f for f in os.listdir(dr) if f.endswith(".desktop")]:
    try:
        content = open(dr+"/"+f).read()
        if not "NoDisplay=true" in content:
            lines = content.splitlines()
            name = [l for l in lines if l.startswith("Name=")][0].replace("Name=", "")
            command = [l for l in lines if l.startswith("Exec=")][0].replace("Exec=", "")
            apps.append([name, command])
    except:
        pass

apps.sort(key=lambda x: x[0]); apps = sum(apps, [])
displ_list = '"'+'" "'.join(apps)+'"'

try:
    chosen = subprocess.check_output([
        "/bin/bash",
        "-c",
        'zenity --list '+\
        '--column="Applications" '+\
        '--column="commands" '+\
        '--hide-column=2 --height 450 '+\
        '--width 300 '+\
        '--print-column=2 '+displ_list
        ]).decode("utf-8").split("|")[-1].strip()
    chosen = chosen[:chosen.rfind(" ")] if "%" in chosen else chosen
    subprocess.Popen([
        "/bin/bash", "-c", chosen
        ])
except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
    pass

How it works

The script lists all .desktop files in /usr/share/applications, and checks if the line NoDisplay=true is in the file (which means it is not meant to be used as a GUI). Then it looks into the files, looks up the application name and the command to run it.

The result is listed in a zenity list, to choose from. If you pick one, the corresponding command is executed.

That's it.

Extended version

If you also would like to have a short description on the application, As mentioned in the Comment= line of its .desktop file, use the version below:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import os

dr = "/usr/share/applications"

apps = []

for f in [f for f in os.listdir(dr) if f.endswith(".desktop")]:
    try:
        content = open(dr+"/"+f).read()
        if not "NoDisplay=true" in content:
            lines = content.splitlines()
            name = [l for l in lines if l.startswith("Name=")][0].replace("Name=", "")
            command = [l for l in lines if l.startswith("Exec=")][0].replace("Exec=", "")
            comment = [l for l in lines if l.startswith("Comment=")]
            comment = comment[0].replace("Comment=", "") if comment else "No description"
            apps.append([name, command, comment])
    except:
        pass

apps.sort(key=lambda x: x[0]); apps = sum(apps, [])
displ_list = '"'+'" "'.join(apps)+'"'

try:
    chosen = subprocess.check_output([
        "/bin/bash",
        "-c",
        'zenity --list '+\
        '--column="Applications" '+\
        '--column="commands" '+\
        '--column="Description" '+\
        '--hide-column=2 --height 450 '+\
        '--width 500 '+\
        '--print-column=2 '+displ_list
        ]).decode("utf-8").split("|")[-1].strip()
    chosen = chosen[:chosen.rfind(" ")] if "%" in chosen else chosen
    subprocess.Popen([
        "/bin/bash", "-c", chosen
        ])
except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
    pass

On ubuntu not all the program are listed in the application menu.

To see them all you will need to open a console and type

dpkg -l

This will display all application (the one which run in the UI and the one running in the console)