term% cat index.txt AR(1) General Commands Manual AR(1)
NAME
ar, ranlib - archive and library maintainer
SYNOPSIS
ar key [ posname ] afile name ...
ranlib archive ...
DESCRIPTION
Ar maintains groups of files combined into a single archive file. Its
main use is to create and update library files for the loader ld(1).
It can be used, though, for any similar purpose.
Key is one character from the set drqtpmx, optionally concatenated with
one or more of vuaibcl. Afile is the archive file. The names are con‐
stituent files in the archive file. The meanings of the key characters
are:
d Delete the named files from the archive file.
r Replace the named files in the archive file. If the optional
character u is used with r, then only those files with modified
dates later than the archive files are replaced. If an optional
positioning character from the set abi is used, then the posname
argument must be present and specifies that new files are to be
placed after (a) or before (b or i) posname. Otherwise new
files are placed at the end.
q Quickly append the named files to the end of the archive file.
Optional positioning characters are invalid. The command does
not check whether the added members are already in the archive.
Useful only to avoid quadratic behavior when creating a large
archive piece-by-piece.
t Print a table of contents of the archive file. If no names are
given, all files in the archive are tabled. If names are given,
only those files are tabled.
p Print the named files in the archive.
m Move 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, specifies where the files are to be moved.
x Extract the named files. If no names are given, all files in
the archive are extracted. In neither case does x alter the
archive file.
v Verbose. Under the verbose option, ar gives a file-by-file de‐
scription of the making of a new archive file from the old
archive and the constituent files. When used with t, it gives a
long listing of all information about the files. When used with
p, it precedes each file with a name.
c Create. Normally ar will create afile when it needs to. The
create option suppresses the normal message that is produced
when afile is created.
l Local. Normally ar places its temporary files in the directory
/tmp. This option causes them to be placed in the local direc‐
tory.
Ranlib adds a table of contents ‘__SYMDEF' to each library archive.
This makes it possible for the loader ld(1) to extract all necessary
files from an archive in one pass regardless of the order of the
archive.
FILES
/tmp/v* temporaries
SEE ALSO
ld(1), ar(5)
BUGS
If the same file is mentioned twice in an argument list, it may be put
in the archive twice.
Failure to do both ar and ranlib steps may cause phase errors in li‐
braries. Consequently the loader ld warns when a library is newer
than its table of contents; but this means you get the warning even if
you only copy the library.
AR(1)