ar(1) General Commands Manual ar(1)
NAME
ar - archive library maintainer
SYNOPSIS
ar -d [-vV] [-l] archive file...
ar -h [-lvV] [-s] archive [file...]
ar -m [-abilvVzZ] [posname] archive file...
ar -p [-vV] [-s] archive file...
ar -q [-clvVzZ] archive file...
ar -r [-cuvVzZ] [-abil] [posname] archive file...
ar -R [-lvVzZ] [-s] archive
ar -t [-vV] [-s] archive file...
ar -w [-lvV] [-s] archive
ar -x [-vV] [-osCT] archive file...
ar -input file
The token -- (double-dash) is accepted as a delimiter indicating the end of options. Any following arguments are treated as operands, even
if they begin with the - character.
The following options and suboptions are Tru64 UNIX extensions to the standard ar utility:
Options: -h, -input, -w, -R
Suboptions: -o, -z, -Z
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:
ar: XPG4-UNIX
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported: Positions new files in the archive after the existing file named by the posname operand. Positions
new files in the archive before the existing file named by the posname operand. Suppresses the diagnostic message that the archiver prints
when it creates the specified archive file. Prevents extracted files from replacing like-named files in the file system. When -T is also
used, this option is useful to prevent truncated file names from replacing files with the same prefix. Deletes the specified files from
the archive file. [Tru64 UNIX] Sets the file modification times in the member headers of the named files to the current date and time. If
you do not specify any filenames, ar sets the time stamps of all member headers. Positions new files in the archive before the existing
file named by the posname operand (equivalent to -b). [Tru64 UNIX] Directs ar to read the contents of file file as if the contents had
been supplied on the command line.
Inside file, lines ending with a (backslash) are treated as continuation lines, and lines starting with # are treated as comment
lines and ignored. The -v option can be used to display the expansion of the command line resulting from the use of -input. The
files can be nested up to 20 levels. Places temporary files in the local current working directory, instead of in the directory
specified by the environment variable TMPDIR or in the default directory.
This option is scheduled to be withdrawn from a future version of the X/Open CAE Specification. Moves the specified files. The -a,
-b, or -i suboptions with the posname operand indicate the position. Otherwise, moves the files to the end of the archive. [Tru64
UNIX] Forces a newly created file to have the last-modified date that it had before it was extracted from the archive. Prints the
contents of the specified files from the archive. If no files are specified, the contents of all files are printed in the order of
the archive. Quickly appends the specified files to the end of the archive file. The archiver does not check whether the added mem-
bers are already in the archive. This is useful to bypass the searching otherwise done when creating a large archive piece by piece.
Replaces or adds the specified files to the archive. If the archive named by archive does not exist, a new archive file is created.
Files that replace existing files do not change the order of the archive. New files are appended to the archive. [Tru64
UNIX] Replicates the entire archive, transferring each file in the archive to the replica in uncompressed form. If the -Z option is
also specified, each file in the archive is transferred to the replica in compressed form. [XPG4-UNIX] Makes a symbol definition
file ("symdef" file) as the first file of an archive. This file contains a hash table of ranlib structures and a corresponding
string table. If you change the archive contents, the "symdef" file becomes obsolete because archive file symbols change. The ar
command builds the symbol table by default. Prints a table of contents for the files in archive. The table includes the files spec-
ified by the file operands. If no file names are specified, all files in archive are included in the order in which they appear in
the archive. Allows filename truncation of extracted files whose archive names are longer than the file system can support. By
default, extracting a file with a name that is too long is an error; a diagnostic message is written and the file is not extracted.
Updates older files. When used with the -r option, files within the archive are replaced only if the corresponding file has a modi-
fication time that is at least as new as the modification time of the file within the archive. Gives verbose output. When used with
options -d, -r, or -x, writes a detailed file-by-file description of the archive creation and maintenance activity.
When used with option -p, the archiver precedes each file with a name.
When used with option -t, the archiver lists all information about the files in the archive, indicating that a file has been com-
pressed by placing a "Z" in the column that precedes the filename. Displays the version of the ar command. [Tru64 UNIX] Displays
the archive symbol table. Each symbol is listed with the name of the archive member that defines the symbol. Extracts the specified
files from the archive. The contents of the archive is not changed. If no file names are given, the archiver extracts all files. The
modification time of each file extracted is set to the time the file is extracted from the archive, unless the -o option is also
used. In the case of the -o option, the archiver resets the last-modified date to the date recorded in the archive. [Tru64
UNIX] Suppresses symbol table building. [Tru64 UNIX] Compresses each file as it is added to the archive.
OPERANDS
The archive being created or modified. The name of a file member either in an archive or being added to an archive. The name of an ar-
chive file member.
DESCRIPTION
The (ar) utility creates and maintains groups of files combined into a single archive file. Generally, you use this utility to create and
update library files that the link editor uses; however, you can use the archiver for any similar purpose.
When ar creates an archive, it creates administrative information in a format that is portable across all machines. When the archive con-
tains at least one object file that ar recognizes as such, an archive symbol table, which the link editor uses to search the archive file,
is created. Whenever ar is used to create or update the contents of such an archive, the symbol table is rebuilt. The -s option forces the
symbol table to be rebuilt.
The ar(1) utility supports file name lengths up to the limit supported by the operating system.
RESTRICTIONS
If you specify the same file twice in an argument list, it can appear twice in the archive file.
The -o suboption does not change the last-modified date of a file unless you own the extracted file or you are the superuser.
The -s suboption is not operative as ar will always build the hash table by default unless the -z suboption is specified.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables affect the behavior of ar: Provides a default value for the locale category variables that are not set.
If set, overrides the values of all other locale variables. Determines the locale for the interpretation of byte sequences as characters
(single-byte or multibyte) in input parameters and files. Determines the locale used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic mes-
sages displayed by the command. Determines the format and content for date and time strings written by ar -tv. Determines the location of
message catalogs for processing of LC_MESSAGES. Determines the pathname that overrides the default directory for temporary files, if any.
FILES
Temporary files
SEE ALSO
Commands: ld(1), lorder(1)
Files: ar(4)
Standards: standards(5)
ar(1)