I have been using a virtual machine (Xubuntu 12.10, with VMWare on a windows host) for all my programming work, which I am trying to transition from a 32-bit install to a 64-bit install. I am hoping to be able to automatically re-install all the packages I have been using in the 32-bit VM in my new 64-bit VM.

Reading [these instructions](http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1047072&p=6596530#post6596530), I ran `sudo dpkg --get-selections` to get a list of installed packages, but many of the packages have an `:i386` suffix.

Is there an easy way to install the corresponding 64-bit packages? Am I safe to replace `:i386` with `:x86_64` or something similar in my package listing before trying to install them?