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AR(1) FreeBSD General Commands Manual AR(1)
NAME
ar, ranlib - manage archives
SYNOPSIS
ar -d [-T] [-f] [-j] [-v] [-z] archive file ...
ar -m [-T] [-a position-after] [-b position-before] [-f]
[-i position-before] [-j] [-s | -S] [-z] archive file ...
ar -p [-T] [-f] [-v] archive [file ...]
ar -q [-T] [-c] [-D] [-f] [-s | -S] [-U] [-v] [-z] archive file ...
ar -r [-T] [-a position-after] [-b position-before] [-c] [-D] [-f]
[-i position-before] [-j] [-s | -S] [-u] [-U] [-v] [-z] archive
file ...
ar -s [-j] [-z] archive
ar -t [-f] [-T] [-v] archive [file ...]
ar -x [-C] [-T] [-f] [-o] [-u] [-v] archive [file ...]
ar -M
ranlib [-D] [-U] archive ...
DESCRIPTION
The ar utility creates and maintains groups of files combined into an
archive. Once an archive has been created, new files can be added to it,
and existing files can be extracted, deleted or replaced.
Files are named in the archive by their last file name component, so if a
file referenced by a path containing a "/" is archived, it will be named
by the last component of the path. Similarly when matching paths listed
on the command line against file names stored in the archive, only the
last component of the path will be compared.
The normal use of ar is for the creation and maintenance of libraries
suitable for use with the link editor ld(1), although it is not
restricted to this purpose. The ar utility can create and manage an
archive symbol table (see ar(5)) used to speed up link editing
operations. If a symbol table is present in an archive, it will be kept
up-to-date by subsequent operations on the archive.
The ranlib utility is used to add an archive symbol table to an existing
archive.
OPTIONS
The ar utility supports the following options:
-a member-after
When used with option -m this option specifies that the archive
members specified by arguments file ... are moved to after the
archive member named by argument member-after. When used with
option -r this option specifies that the files specified by
arguments file ... are added after the archive member named by
argument member-after.
-b member-before
When used with option -m this option specifies that the archive
members specified by arguments file ... are moved to before the
archive member named by argument member-before. When used with
option -r this option specifies that the files specified by
arguments file ... are added before the archive member named by
argument member-before.
-d Delete the members named by arguments file ... from the archive
specified by argument archive. The archive's symbol table, if
present, is updated to reflect the new contents of the archive.
-D When used in combination with the -r or -q option, with the -s
option without other options, or when invoked as ranlib, insert
0's instead of the real mtime, uid and gid values and 0644
instead of file mode from the members named by arguments file
.... This ensures that checksums on the resulting archives are
reproducible when member contents are identical. This option is
enabled by default. If multiple -D and -U options are specified
on the command line, the final one takes precedence.
-f Use only the first fifteen characters of the archive member name
or command line file name argument when naming archive members.
-i member-before
Synonymous with option -b.
-j This option is accepted but ignored.
-l This option is accepted for compatibility with GNU ar(1), but is
ignored.
-m Move archive members specified by arguments file ... within the
archive. If a position has been specified by one of the -a, -b
or -i options, the members are moved to before or after the
specified position. If no position has been specified, the
specified members are moved to the end of the archive. If the
archive has a symbol table, it is updated to reflect the new
contents of the archive.
-M Read and execute MRI librarian commands from standard input. The
commands understood by the ar utility are described in the
section MRI Librarian Commands.
-o Preserve the original modification times of members when
extracting them.
-p Write the contents of the specified archive members named by
arguments file ... to standard output. If no members were
specified, the contents of all the files in the archive are
written in the order they appear in the archive.
-q Append the files specified by arguments file ... to the archive
specified by argument archive without checking if the files
already exist in the archive. The archive symbol table will be
updated as needed. If the file specified by the argument archive
does not already exist, a new archive will be created.
-r Replace (add) the files specified by arguments file ... in the
archive specified by argument archive, creating the archive if
necessary. Replacing existing members will not change the order
of members within the archive. If a file named in arguments file
... does not exist, existing members in the archive that match
that name are not changed. New files are added to the end of the
archive unless one of the positioning options -a, -b or -i is
specified. The archive symbol table, if it exists, is updated to
reflect the new state of the archive.
-t List the files specified by arguments file ... in the order in
which they appear in the archive, one per line. If no files are
specified, all files in the archive are listed.
-T This option is accepted but ignored. In other implementations of
ar, -T creates a "thin" archive.
-u Conditionally update the archive or extract members. When used
with the -r option, files named by arguments file ... will be
replaced in the archive if they are newer than their archived
versions. When used with the -x option, the members specified by
arguments file ... will be extracted only if they are newer than
the corresponding files in the file system.
-U When used in combination with the -r or -q option, insert the
real mtime, uid and gid, and file mode values from the members
named by arguments file .... If multiple -D and -U options are
specified on the command line, the final one takes precedence.
-v Provide verbose output. When used with the -d, -m, -q or -x
options, ar gives a file-by-file description of the archive
modification being performed, which consists of three white-space
separated fields: the option letter, a dash "-", and the file
name. When used with the -r option, ar displays the description
as above, but the initial letter is an "a" if the file is added
to the archive, or an "r" if the file replaces a file already in
the archive. When used with the -p option, the name of the file
enclosed in "<" and ">" characters is written to standard output
preceded by a single newline character and followed by two
newline characters. The contents of the named file follow the
file name. When used with the -t option, ar displays eight
whitespace separated fields: the file permissions as displayed by
strmode(3), decimal user and group IDs separated by a slash (
"/"),the file size in bytes, the file modification time in
strftime(3) format "%b %e %H:%M %Y", and the name of the file.
-V Print a version string and exit.
-x Extract archive members specified by arguments file ... into the
current directory. If no members have been specified, extract
all members of the archive. If the file corresponding to an
extracted member does not exist it will be created. If the file
corresponding to an extracted member does exist, its owner and
group will not be changed while its contents will be overwritten
and its permissions will set to that entered in the archive. The
file's access and modification time would be that of the time of
extraction unless the -o option was specified.
-z This option is accepted but ignored.
MRI Librarian Commands
If the -M option is specified, the ar utility will read and execute
commands from its standard input. If standard input is a terminal, the
ar utility will display the prompt "AR >" before reading a line, and will
continue operation even if errors are encountered. If standard input is
not a terminal, the ar utility will not display a prompt and will
terminate execution on encountering an error.
Each input line contains a single command. Words in an input line are
The "*" and ";" characters start a comment. Comments extend till the end
of the line.
When executing an MRI librarian script the ar utility works on a
temporary copy of an archive. Changes to the copy are made permanent
using the save command.
Commands understood by the ar utility are:
addlib archive | addlib archive (member [, member]...)
Add the contents of the archive named by argument archive to the
current archive. If specific members are named using the
arguments member, then those members are added to the current
archive. If no members are specified, the entire contents of the
archive are added to the current archive.
addmod member [, member]...
Add the files named by arguments member to the current archive.
clear Discard all the contents of the current archive.
create archive
Create a new archive named by the argument archive, and makes it
the current archive. If the named archive already exists, it
will be overwritten when the save command is issued.
delete module [, member]...
Delete the modules named by the arguments member from the current
archive.
directory archive (member [, member]...) [outputfile]
List each named module in the archive. The format of the output
depends on the verbosity setting set using the verbose command.
Output is sent to standard output, or to the file specified by
argument outputfile.
end Exit successfully from the ar utility. Any unsaved changes to
the current archive will be discarded.
extract member [, member]...
Extract the members named by the arguments member from the
current archive.
list Display the contents of the current archive in verbose style.
open archive
Open the archive named by argument archive and make it the
current archive.
replace member [, member]...
Replace named members in the current archive with the files
specified by arguments member. The files must be present in the
current directory and the named modules must already exist in the
current archive.
save Commit all changes to the current archive.
verbose
To add an archive symbol table to an existing archive ex.a, use:
ar -s ex.a
To delete file ex1.o from archive ex.a, use:
ar -d ex.a ex1.o
To verbosely list the contents of archive ex.a, use:
ar -tv ex.a
To create a new archive ex.a containing the files ex1.o, and ex2.o, using
MRI librarian commands, use the following script:
create ex.a * specify the output archive
addmod ex1.o ex2.o * add modules
save * save pending changes
end * exit the utility
DIAGNOSTICS
The ar utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSO
ld(1), archive(3), elf(3), strftime(3), strmode(3), ar(5)
STANDARDS COMPLIANCE
The ar utility's support for the -a, -b, -c, -i, -m, -p, -q, -r, -s, -t,
-u, -v, -C and -T options is believed to be compliant with IEEE Std
1003.2 ("POSIX.2").
HISTORY
An ar command first appeared in AT&T UNIX Version 1. In FreeBSD 8.0, Kai
Wang <kaiw@FreeBSD.org> reimplemented ar and ranlib using the Streaming
Archive Library (libarchive, -larchive) and the ELF Access Library
(libelf, -lelf).
FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11 January 3, 2022 FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11