NAME

       lha - compression tool for .lzh archive files.

SYNOPSIS

       lha [-]{lvtxe[q{num}][finv]}[w=<dir>] archive_file [file...]

DESCRIPTION

       lha  is  a  tool  for extracting .lzh archive files. It also supports variants of the .lzh
       archive, such as .lzs and .pma.

       This version of the lha tool is part of Lhasa, a free implementation of the .lzh format.

COMMAND SYNTAX

       The lha tool has an unusual command syntax, compared to  most  other  Unix  commands.  The
       first  parameter  to  the  program  specifies  the  command  to perform and all additional
       options. The second parameter specifies the path  to  the  archive  file  to  operate  on.
       Following  this  is  a  list  of  wildcard  patterns to match against the filenames of the
       archived files.

       The first character of the command parameter specifies the command to  perform,  which  is
       one of the following:

       -l     List contents of the specified archive.

       -v     Verbosely list contents of the specified archive.

       -t     Test  the integrity of the specified archive: decompress its contents and check the
              CRC.

       -e or -x
              Extract archive. Files are extracted to the current working  directory  unless  the
              'w' option is specified.

OPTIONS

       The remainder of the command parameter is used to specify additional options:

       q[012] Quiet mode. Higher numbers suppress more output. Level 0 is normal operation. If no
              number is specified, full suppression (level 2) is  used.  The  quiet  option  also
              turns on the force overwrite option ('f').

       f      Force overwrite of existing files: do not prompt.

       i      Ignore  paths  of archived files: extract all archived files to the same directory,
              ignoring subdirectories.

       n      Do not perform any actual operations: instead, perform a dry run of  the  requested
              operation and describe what would have been done on standard output.

       v      Verbose mode: causes extra information to be written to standard output.

       w=dir  Specify destination directory for extracting files. This must be the last option of
              the first parameter.

SEE ALSO

       unzip(1), tar(1), gzip(1), bzip2(1)

HISTORY

       The .lzh format originated with Kazuhiko Miki's MS-DOS archive tool, LArc, using the  LZSS
       algorithm  developed  by  Haruhiko Okumura, and the .lzs filename extension. The container
       format was reused for LHarc, by Haruyasu Yoshizaki (Yoshi), which  used  a  new  algorithm
       named  LZHUF  and  the  .lzh  extension.  In  later versions, LHarc was renamed to LHA and
       extended with more effective compression algorithms.

       Versions of the LHA tool  were  later  ported  to  various  different  operating  systems,
       including  the  Amiga, Atari, MacOS, OS/2 and Unix.  A tool for MSX-DOS named PMarc reused
       the container format with a new compression algorithm (.pma extension).

       The Unix version of the tool was developed by Masaru Oki,  Nobutaka  Watazaki  and  Tsugio
       Okamoto,  but  was  released  under  a  software license that does not conform to the Free
       Software or Open Source Definitions. Lhasa was developed as a drop-in replacement that  is
       Free Software and Open Source.

BUGS

       The current version does not allow the creation of new archive files.

       Some  obscure  compression  algorithms  are  not currently supported (-lh2-, -lh3-, -pm1-,
       -lx1-, -lhx-).

AUTHOR

       Lhasa was written and is maintained by Simon Howard.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2011, 2012 Simon Howard.

       Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose  with  or
       without  fee  is  hereby  granted,  provided  that  the  above  copyright  notice and this
       permission notice appear in all copies.

       THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES  WITH  REGARD  TO
       THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT
       SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES  OR
       ANY  DAMAGES  WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
       OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
       USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

                                                                                           lha(1)