How to get installed formulae list without calling brew list command?

[xareelee]

I want to write a script to get the full installed formulae list without calling brew list. How do I do?

1. Is there any file listing all installed formulae?
   • Or do I need to scan the Cellar folder for
   • How to distinguish a formula is linked or unlinked.
2. How do I know where installed formulae are?
   • Brew doesn't guarantee formulae are installed in /usr/local/Cellar.
   • The command brew --env doesn't provide HOMEBREW_CELLAR path.
3. How do I know what version a formula is using without calling brew command?
   • The folder HOMEBREW_CELLAR/{formula} may contain more than one version.

[SMillerDev]

Is there any file listing all installed formulae?

There isn't, brew checks the install location for brew list

How to distinguish a formula is linked or unlinked.

You'll need to see if it is symlinked.

How do I know where installed formulae are?

You could parse it from brew config

How do I know what version a formula is using without calling brew command?
The folder HOMEBREW_CELLAR/{formula} may contain more than one version.

You can check what HOMEBREW_PREFIX/opt/formula_name points to in the Cellar.

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All of this is significantly more work than brew list and homebrew internal structures are not guaranteed to be stable.

[xareelee]

Thanks for reply.

You can check what HOMEBREW_PREFIX/opt/formula_name points to in the Cellar.

Does brew guarantee all installed formulae could be found in the path HOMEBREW_PREFIX/opt/formula_name?

[SMillerDev]

homebrew internal structures are not guaranteed to be stable.

[xareelee]

I have another question: how do I find out the revision numbers of installed formulae?

Docs tells some updates don't bump the version, just increase the revision number.

[SMillerDev]

brew info formula --json | jq .[].revision will show this.