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port-echo(1)
============

NAME
----
port-echo - Print the list of ports the argument expands to

SYNOPSIS
--------
[cmdsynopsis]
*port* *echo*
     [['portname' | 'pseudo-portname' | 'port-expressions' | 'port-url']]

DESCRIPTION
-----------
*port echo* expands its argument list according to MacPorts' rules and prints
a list of ports that match the expression given as argument. It can be useful to
see what a pseudo-portname or a pseudo-portname selector (see man:port[1])
expands to.

If *port echo* doesn't recognize an argument as port, it will still print it
as-is. You cannot use *port echo* to check whether a port exists:

----
$ port echo nonexistentport
nonexistentport
----

EXAMPLES
--------
Common use cases are:

----
port echo depends:zlib
port echo inactive
port echo obsolete
port echo requested
port echo leaves
port echo category:^mail$
----

Note that *echo* is usually 'not' used to list outdated ports, since a separate
action man:port-outdated[1] exists for that. *port outdated* has the advantage
compared to *port echo outdated* that it gives the reason why MacPorts considers
the port outdated.

SEE ALSO
--------
man:port[1], man:port-outdated[1]

AUTHORS
-------
 (C) 2014 The MacPorts Project
 Clemens Lang <cal@macports.org>
