ar(1)ar(1)Namear - archive and library maintainer
Syntaxar-key [posname] afile name...
Description
The command maintains groups of files combined into a single archive
file. The command is used to create and update library files as they
are used by the loader.
This version of ar uses a ASCII-format archive, which can be used by
the various machines running UNIX. Programs for dealing with older
formats are also available. For further information, see
The key is one character from the following set: d, r, q, t, p, m, x.
The key character can be concatenated with one or more of the following
optional characters: v, u, a, i, b, c, l, o. The afile is the archive
file. The names are constituent files in the archive file.
Options
The OPTIONS section is divided into two sections: the first section
lists the key characters and their meanings, and the second section
lists the optional characters and their meanings.
For backward compatibility, the keys work without the dash (-). The
definitions of the key characters are as follows:
d Deletes the named files from the archive file.
m Moves the named files to the end of the archive. If a position‐
ing character is present, then the posname argument must be
present and, as in r, it will specify where the files are to be
moved.
p Prints the named files in the archive.
q Appends the named files to the end of the archive file.
Optional positioning characters are invalid. The command does
not check whether the added files are already in the archive.
The q option is used primarily to avoid quadratic behavior when
you are creating a large archive piece-by-piece.
r Replaces the named files in the archive file. If the optional
character u is used with r, then only those files with last-mod‐
ified dates later than the archive files are replaced. If an
optional positioning character from the set a, b, or i is used,
then the posname argument must be present and it specifies that
new files should be placed after (a) or before (b or i) posname.
Otherwise new files are placed at the end.
t Prints a table of contents of the archive file. If no names are
given, all files in the archive are included in the table of
contents. If file names are specified, only those files are
included in the table of contents.
x Extracts the named files. If no names are given, all files in
the archive are extracted. However, x does not alter the ar‐
chive file. Normally the last-modified date of each extracted
file is the date when it is extracted. However, if o is used,
the last-modified date is reset to the date recorded in the ar‐
chive.
The following optional characters can be used in conjunction with the
key characters:
a Tells the command that new files should be placed after posname.
b Tells the command that new files should be placed before posname.
c Suppresses the message that is normally produced when afile is
created.
i Tells the command that new files should be placed before posname.
l Places files in the local directory. If the l option is not used
then the value of the environment symbol, TMPDIR, is used as the
directory for temporary files. If TMPDIR is not defined or if the
directory it references is not writable then /tmp is used.
o Resets the last-modified date to the date recorded in the archive.
Normally the last-modified date is the date when the file was
extracted.
u Replaces only those files with last-modified dates later than the
archive files. See the r key character.
v Gives a file-by-file description of the making of a new archive
file from the old archive and the constituent files. When used
with the t option, it gives a long listing of all information
about the files. When used with the p option, it precedes each
file with a name.
Restrictions
The command truncates the filenames to 15 characters.
If the same file is mentioned twice in an argument list, it may be put
in the archive twice.
The last-modified date of a file is not altered by the o option if the
user is not the owner of the extracted file or a super-user.
Files
/tmp/v* temporaries
See Alsold(1), lorder(1), ranlib(1), ar(5), arcv(8)
VAX ar(1)
