Use
man brew
to view the manpage.
Command Description brew --cache
Print path to Homebrew’s download cache (usually ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew
)brew --cellar
Print path to Homebrew’s Cellar (usually /usr/local/Cellar
)brew --config
Print system configuration info brew --env
Print Homebrew’s environment brew --prefix
Print path to Homebrew’s prefix (usually /usr/local
)brew --prefix [formula]
Print where formula
is installedbrew audit
Audit all formulae for common code and style issues brew cleanup [formula]
Remove older versions from the Cellar for all (or specific) formulae1 brew create [url]
Generate formula for downloadable file at url
, then open it in$BREW_EDITOR
or$EDITOR
2brew create [tarball-url] --cache
Generate formula (including MD5), then download the tarball brew create --fink [formula]
Open Fink’s search page in your browser, so you can see how they do formula
brew create --macports [formula]
Open MacPorts’ search page in your browser, so you can see how they do formula
brew doctor
Check your Homebrew installation for common issues brew edit
Open all of Homebrew for editing in TextMate brew edit [formula]
Open [formula] in $HOMEBREW_EDITOR
or$EDITOR
brew fetch --force -v --HEAD [formula]
Download source package for formula
; for tarballs, also prints MD5 and SHA1 checksumsbrew home
Open Homebrew’s homepage in your browser brew home [formula]
Opens formula
’s homepage in your browserbrew info
Print summary of installed packages brew info [formula]
Print info for formula
(regardless of whetherformula
is installed)brew info --github [formula]
Open Github’s History page for formula
in your browserbrew install [formula]
Install formula
brew install --HEAD [formula]
Install the HEAD
version offormula
(if its formula definesHEAD
)brew install --force --HEAD [formula]
Install a newer HEAD
version offormula
(if its formula definesHEAD
)brew link [formula]
Symlink all installed files for formula
into the Homebrew prefix3brew list [formula]
List all installed files for formula
(or all installed formulae with no arguments )brew outdated
List formulae that have an updated version available ( brew install formula
will install the newer version)brew prune
Remove dead symlinks from Homebrew’s prefix4 brew remove [formula]
Uninstall formula
brew search
List all available formula brew search [formula]
Search for formula
in all available formulaebrew search /[formula]/
Search for /formula/
(as regex) in all available formulaebrew unlink [formula]
Unsymlink formula
from Homebrew’s prefixbrew update
Update formulae and Homebrew itself brew upgrade
Install newer versions of outdated packages You can update outdated packages with any of the following:
brew upgrade
brew install `brew outdated`
brew outdated | xargs brew install
1 To delete a specific version, just go to the folder in the Cellar and
rm -rf
it; alternatively, drag it to the trash in Finder.2 Homebrew tries to guess the formula name and version. If it fails, you’ll have to make your own template. I suggest copying
wget
’s.3 Symlinking is automatically performed when installing formulae. It’s useful for DIY installation, or swapping out versions of a package you have multiple installs of.
4 This is generally not needed. However, it can be useful if you are doing DIY installations.
This page was waaay too hard to find. Every page / readme / tutorial about homebrew is just how to install the damn thing, not how to use it.