How do i show information about a software packages status using dpkg?

[petulia3478]

Man: http://lightnetics.nodebb.com/post/851

$ dpkg -l man-db
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/\
trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name             Version          Description
+++-================-================-=====================
===========================
ii  man-db           2.5.9-4          on-line manual pager
The "ii" mean keep the software when upgrading.