ar
NAME
ar - create, modify, and extract from archives.
SYNOPSIS
ar [-]{dmpqrtx}[abcilosuvV] [membername] archive files...
DESCRIPTION
The GNU ar program creates, modifies, and extracts from ar-
chives. An archive is a single file holding a collection of
other files in a structure that makes it possible to re-
trieve the original individual files (called members of the
archive).
The original files' contents, mode (permissions), timestamp,
owner, and group are preserved in the archive, and may be
reconstituted on extraction.
GNU ar can maintain archives whose members have names of any
length; however, depending on how ar is configured on your
system, a limit on member-name length may be imposed (for
compatibility with archive formats maintained with other
tools). If it exists, the limit is often 15 characters
(typical of formats related to a.out) or 16 characters (typ-
ical of formats related to coff).
ar is considered a binary utility because archives of this
sort are most often used as libraries holding commonly need-
ed subroutines.
ar will create an index to the symbols defined in relocat-
able object modules in the archive when you specify the
modifier `s'. Once created, this index is updated in the
archive whenever ar makes a change to its contents (save for
the `q' update operation). An archive with such an index
speeds up linking to the library, and allows routines in the
library to call each other without regard to their placement
in the archive.
You may use `nm -s' or `nm --print-armap' to list this index
table. If an archive lacks the table, another form of ar
called ranlib can be used to add just the table.
ar insists on at least two arguments to execute: one
keyletter specifying the operation (optionally accompanied
by other keyletters specifying modifiers), and the archive
name to act on.
Most operations can also accept further files arguments,
specifying particular files to operate on.
OPTIONS
GNU ar allows you to mix the operation code p and modifier
flags mod in any order, within the first command-line argu-
ment.
If you wish, you may begin the first command-line argument
with a dash.
The p keyletter specifies what operation to execute; it may
be any of the following, but you must specify only one of
them:
d Delete modules from the archive. Specify the names of
modules to be deleted as files; the archive is un-
touched if you specify no files to delete.
If you specify the `v' modifier, ar will list each
module as it is deleted.
m Use this operation to move members in an archive.
The ordering of members in an archive can make a
difference in how programs are linked using the li-
brary, if a symbol is defined in more than one member.
If no modifiers are used with m, any members you name
in the files arguments are moved to the end of the ar-
chive; you can use the `a', `b', or `i' modifiers to
move them to a specified place instead.
p Print the specified members of the archive, to the
standard output file. If the `v' modifier is speci-
fied, show the member name before copying its contents
to standard output.
If you specify no files, all the files in the archive
are printed.
q Quick append; add files to the end of archive, without
checking for replacement.
The modifiers `a', `b', and `i' do not affect this
operation; new members are always placed at the end of
the archive.
The modifier `v' makes ar list each file as it is ap-
pended.
Since the point of this operation is speed, the
archive's symbol table index is not updated, even if it
already existed; you can use `ar s' or ranlib explicit-
ly to update the symbol table index.
r Insert files into archive (with replacement). This
operation differs from `q' in that any previously ex-
isting members are deleted if their names match those
being added.
If one of the files named in files doesn't exist, ar
displays an error message, and leaves undisturbed any
existing members of the archive matching that name.
By default, new members are added at the end of the
file; but you may use one of the modifiers `a', `b', or
`i' to request placement relative to some existing
member.
The modifier `v' used with this operation elicits a
line of output for each file inserted, along with one
of the letters `a' or `r' to indicate whether the file
was appended (no old member deleted) or replaced.
t Display a table listing the contents of archive, or
those of the files listed in files that are present in
the archive. Normally only the member name is shown;
if you also want to see the modes (permissions), times-
tamp, owner, group, and size, you can request that by
also specifying the `v' modifier.
If you do not specify any files, all files in the ar-
chive are listed.
If there is more than one file with the same name (say,
`fie') in an archive (say `b.a'), `ar t b.a fie' will
list only the first instance; to see them all, you must
ask for a complete listing-in our example, `ar t b.a'.
x Extract members (named files) from the archive. You
can use the `v' modifier with this operation, to re-
quest that ar list each name as it extracts it.
If you do not specify any files, all files in the ar-
chive are extracted.
A number of modifiers (mod) may immediately follow the p
keyletter, to specify variations on an operation's behavior:
a Add new files after an existing member of the archive.
If you use the modifier a, the name of an existing ar-
chive member must be present as the membername argu-
ment, before the archive specification.
b Add new files before an existing member of the archive.
If you use the modifier b, the name of an existing ar-
chive member must be present as the membername argu-
ment, before the archive specification. (same as `i').
c Create the archive. The specified archive is always
created if it didn't exist, when you request an update.
But a warning is issued unless you specify in advance
that you expect to create it, by using this modifier.
i Insert new files before an existing member of the ar-
chive. If you use the modifier i, the name of an ex-
isting archive member must be present as the membername
argument, before the archive specification. (same as
`b').
l This modifier is accepted but not used.
o Preserve the original dates of members when extracting
them. If you do not specify this modifier, files ex-
tracted from the archive will be stamped with the time
of extraction.
s Write an object-file index into the archive, or update
an existing one, even if no other change is made to the
archive. You may use this modifier flag either with
any operation, or alone. Running `ar s' on an archive
is equivalent to running `ranlib' on it.
u Normally, ar r... inserts all files listed into the ar-
chive. If you would like to insert only those of the
files you list that are newer than existing members of
the same names, use this modifier. The `u' modifier is
allowed only for the operation `r' (replace). In par-
ticular, the combination `qu' is not allowed, since
checking the timestamps would lose any speed advantage
from the operation `q'.
v This modifier requests the verbose version of an opera-
tion.
Many operations display additional information, such
as filenames processed, when the modifier `v' is ap-
pended.
V This modifier shows the version number of ar.
SEE ALSO
`binutils' entry in info; The GNU Binary Utilities, Roland
H. Pesch (October 1991). nm(1), ranlib(1).
COPYING
Copyright (c) 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies
of this manual provided the copyright notice and this per-
mission notice are preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified ver-
sions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copy-
ing, provided that the entire resulting derived work is dis-
tributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to
this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of
this manual into another language, under the above condi-
tions for modified versions, except that this permission no-
tice may be included in translations approved by the Free
Software Foundation instead of in the original English.