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ar [-]p[mod [relpos]] archive [member...]
When you use ar
in the Unix style, 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 member arguments,
specifying particular files to operate on.
GNU ar
allows you to mix the operation code p and modifier
flags mod in any order, within the first command-line argument.
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 member...; the archive is untouched if you
specify no files to delete.
If you specify the `v' modifier,
ar
lists 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 library, if a symbol is defined in more
than one member.
If no modifiers are used with
m
, any members you name in the
member arguments are moved to the end of the archive;
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 specified, show the member
name before copying its contents to standard output.
If you specify no member arguments, all the files in the archive are
printed.
q
- Quick append; add the files member... 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 appended.
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
explicitly to update the symbol table index.
r
- Insert the files member... into archive (with
replacement). This operation differs from `q' in that any
previously existing members are deleted if their names match those being
added.
If one of the files named in member... does not 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 member... that are present in the
archive. Normally only the member name is shown; if you also want to
see the modes (permissions), timestamp, owner, group, and size, you can
request that by also specifying the `v' modifier.
If you do not specify a member, all files in the archive
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' lists 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 member) from the archive. You can
use the `v' modifier with this operation, to request that
ar
list each name as it extracts it.
If you do not specify a member, all files in the archive
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 archive
member must be present as the relpos argument, 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 archive
member must be present as the relpos argument, before the
archive specification. (same as `i').
c
- Create the archive. The specified archive is always
created if it did not 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.
f
- Truncate names in the archive. GNU
ar
will normally permit file
names of any length. This will cause it to create archives which are
not compatible with the native ar
program on some systems. If
this is a concern, the `f' modifier may be used to truncate file
names when putting them in the archive.
i
- Insert new files before an existing member of the
archive. If you use the modifier `i', the name of an existing archive
member must be present as the relpos 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 extracted from the archive
are 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 archive. 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 particular, 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 operation. Many
operations display additional information, such as filenames processed,
when the modifier `v' is appended.
V
- This modifier shows the version number of
ar
.
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