brew ls -lt
lists installed packages, sorted by last modified date of the package installation directory, newest to oldest.
Equivalent results can be obtained with:
find /usr/local/Cellar"$(brew --cellar)" -type d -maxdepth 0 | xargs ls -lt
With this incantation, sort order can be changed by adding -U
(creation date) or -u
(last access date) to the ls -lt
$ find /usr/local/Cellar"$(brew --cellar)" -type d -maxdepth 0 | xargs ls -ltU # creation aka *installation date*
$ find /usr/local/Cellar"$(brew --cellar)" -type d -maxdepth 0 | xargs ls -ltu # last access aka last use date
Add -r
to ls -lt
to reverse order, oldest to newest.
brew ls -l
lists installed packages in alphabetical order.
It's unknown to me whether Homebrew affects a package folder's creation date during brew upgrade
, so be aware that learning the first installation date of a package may be elusive.
The -a
option for brew ls -l
appears to be no longer available.