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NAME

       ar - create, modify, and extract from archives

SYNOPSIS

       ar [-X32_64] [-]p[mod [relpos] [count]] archive [member...]

DESCRIPTION

       The  GNU ar program creates, modifies, and extracts from archives.  An archive is a single
       file holding a collection of other files in a structure that makes it possible to retrieve
       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 can be restored 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 (typical of
       formats related to coff).

       ar is considered a binary utility because archives of this sort are  most  often  used  as
       libraries holding commonly needed subroutines.

       ar  creates  an  index to the symbols defined in relocatable 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.

       GNU ar is designed to be compatible with two different facilities.  You  can  control  its
       activity  using  command-line options, like the different varieties of ar on Unix systems;
       or, if you specify the single command-line option -M, you can control  it  with  a  script
       supplied via standard input, like the MRI ``librarian'' program.

OPTIONS

       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;  Historically,  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.

           However,  too many different systems assume quick append rebuilds the index, so GNU ar
           implements q as a synonym for r.

       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.

       N   Uses the count parameter.  This is used if there are multiple entries in  the  archive
           with  the  same  name.   Extract  or  delete instance count of the given name from the
           archive.

       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.

       P   Use the full path name when matching names in the archive.  GNU ar can not  create  an
           archive  with  a  full  path  name  (such archives are not POSIX complaint), but other
           archive creators can.  This option will cause GNU ar  to  match  file  names  using  a
           complete  path  name,  which  can  be convenient when extracting a single file from an
           archive created by another tool.

       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.

       S   Do  not  generate an archive symbol table.  This can speed up building a large library
           in several steps.  The resulting archive can not be used with the linker.  In order to
           build a symbol table, you must omit the S modifier on the last execution of ar, or you
           must run ranlib on the archive.

       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.

       ar  ignores  an  initial  option spelt -X32_64, for compatibility with AIX.  The behaviour
       produced by this option is the default for GNU ar.  ar does not support any of  the  other
       -X options; in particular, it does not support -X32 which is the default for AIX ar.

SEE ALSO

       nm(1), ranlib(1), and the Info entries for binutils.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  (c)  1991,  1992,  1993,  1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
       2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the  terms  of
       the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free
       Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts,  and  with  no
       Back-Cover  Texts.   A  copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free
       Documentation License''.