pax(1) CLIX pax(1)
NAME
pax - Portable archive exchange
SYNOPSIS
pax [-cimopuvy] [-f archive] [-s replstr] [-t device] [pattern ...]
pax-r [-cimnopuvy] [-f archive] [-s replstr] [-t device] [pattern ...]
pax-w [-adimuvy] [-b blocking] [-f archive] [-s replstr] [-t device] -x
[format] [pathname ...] directory
pax-rw [-ilmopuvy] [-s replstr] [pathname ...] directory
FLAGS
-a Appends the files specified by pathname to the specified archive.
-b blocking
Blocks the output at blocking bytes per write to the archive file.
A k suffix multiplies blocking by 1024, a b suffix multiplies
blocking by 512, and an m suffix multiplies blocking by 1048576 (1
megabyte). If not specified, blocking is automatically determined
on input and is ignored for -rw.
-c Complements the match sense of the the pattern operands.
-d Does not create intermediate directories not explicitly listed in
the archive. This flag is ignored unless the -r flag is specified.
-f archive
Specifies the pathname (archive) of the input or output archive,
overriding the default of standard input for -r or standard output
for -w.
-i Interactively renames files. Substitutions specified by -s flags
are performed before requesting the new file name from the user. A
file is skipped if an empty line is entered and pax exits with an
exit status of 0 if EOF is encountered.
-l Links files rather than copy them when possible.
-m Does not retain file modification times.
-n When -r is specified, but -w is not, treats the pattern arguments
as ordinary file names. Only the first occurrence of each of these
files in the input archive is read. The pax utility exits with a
zero exit status after all files in the list have been read. If
one or more files in the list is not found, pax writes a diagnostic
to standard error for each of the files and exits with a non-zero
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exit status. The file names are compared before any of the -i, -s,
or -y flags are applied.
-o Restores file ownership as specified in the archive. The invoking
process must have appropriate privileges to accomplish this.
-p Preserves the access time of the input files after they have been
copied.
-r Reads an archive file from the standard input. Only files with
names that match any of the pattern operands are selected for
extraction. The selected files are conditionally created and
copied relative to the current directory tree, subject to the
options described later. By default, the owner and group of
selected files will be that of the invoking process, and the
permissions and modification times will be the sames as those in
the archive.
The supported archive formats are automatically detected on input.
The default output format is ustar, but this may be overridden by
the -x flag.
-rw Reads the files and directories named in the pathname operands and
copies them to the destination directory. A directory pathname
operand refers to the files and (recursively) subdirectories of
that directory. If no pathname operands are given, the standard
input is read to get a list of pathnames to copy, one pathname per
line. In this case, only those pathnames appearing on the standard
input are copied. The directory named by the directory operand
must exist and have the proper permissions before the copy can
occur.
-s replstr
Modifies file names according to the substitution expression, using
the syntax of ed(1), as follows:
-s /old/new/[gp]
Any non-null character may be used as a delimiteri (a / is used
here as an example). Multiple -s expressions may be specified; the
expressions are applied in the order specified, terminating with
the first successful substitution. The optional trailing p causes
successful mappings to be listed on standard error. The optional
trailing g causes the old expression to be replaced each time it
occurs in the source string. Files that substitute to an empty
string are ignored both on input and output.
-t device
Names the input or output archive device; device is an
implementation-defined identifier. This overrides the default of
standard input for -r and standard output for -w.
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-u Copies each file only if it is newer than a pre-existing file with
the same name. This implies -a.
-v Lists file names as they are encountered. Produces a verbose table
of contents listing on the standard output when both the -r and -w
flags are omitted; otherwise, the file names are printed to
standard error as they are encountered in the archive.
-w Writes the files and directories specified by pathname operands to
the standard output, together with the pathname and status
information prescribed by the archive format used. A directory
pathname operand refers to the files and (recursively)
subdirectories of that directory. If no pathname operands are
given, then the standard input is read to get a list of pathnames
to copy, one pathname per line. In this case, only those pathnames
appearing on the standard input are copied.
-x format
Specifies the output archive format. The input format, which must
be one of the following, is automatically determined when the -r
flag is used. The supported formats are as follows:
cpio -- The extended CPIO interchange format specified in Extended
CPIO Format in ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (IEEE Std 1003.1-1990).
ustar --The extended TAR interchange format specified in Extended
TAR Format in ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (IEEE Std 1003.1-1990). This is
the default archive format.
-y Interactively prompts for the disposition of each file.
Substitutions specified by -s flags are performed before prompting
the user for disposition.
EOF or an input line starting with the character q cause pax to
exit. Otherwise, an input line starting with anything other than y
causes the file to be ignored. This flag cannot be used in
conjunction with the -i flag.
DESCRIPTION
The pax utility reads and writes archive files which conform to the
Archive/Interchange File Format specified in ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (IEEE Std
1003.1-1990). The pax utility can also read, but not write, a number of
other file formats in addition to those specified in the
Archive/Interchange File Format description. Support for these
traditional file formats, such as UNIX V7 tar and UNIX System V binary
cpio format archives, is provided for backward compatibility and to
maximize portability.
The pax utility will also support traditional cpio and tar interfaces if
invoked with the name cpio or tar, respectively.
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Combinations of the -r and -w command line flags specify whether pax will
read, write, or list the contents of the specified archive, or move the
specified files to another directory.
If neither the -r or -w flags are given, then pax lists the contents of
the specified archive. In this mode, pax lists normal files one per line,
hard link pathnames as
pathname == linkname,
and symbolic link pathnames (if supported by the implementation) as
pathname -> linkname,
where pathname is the name of the file being extracted, and linkname is
the name of a file which appeared earlier in the archive.
If the -v flag is specified, then pax lists
normal pathnames in the same format used by the ls -l command. Hard
links are shown as
<ls -l listing> == linkname
and symbolic links (if supported) are shown as
<ls -l listing> -> linkname
The pax utility is capable of reading and writing archives which span
multiple physical volumes. Upon detecting an end of medium on an archive
which is not yet completed, pax will prompt the user for the next volume
of the archive and will allow the user to specify the location of the next
volume.
Only the last of multiple -f or -t flags take effect.
When writing to an archive, the standard input is used as a list of
pathnames if no pathname operands are specified. The format is one
pathname per line. Otherwise, the standard input is the archive file,
which is formatted according to one of the specifications in
Archive/Interchange File Format in ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (IEEE Std 1003.1-
1990). or some other implementation-defined format.
The user ID and group ID of the process, together with the appropriate
privileges, affect the ability of pax to restore ownership and permissions
attributes of the archived files. See Format-Reading Utility in
Archive/Interchange File Format in ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (IEEE Std 1003.1-
1990).
The flags -a, -c -d, -i, -l -p, -t, -u, and -y are provided for functional
compatibility with the historical cpio and tar utilities. The flag
defaults were chosen based on the most common usage of these flags;
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therefore, some of the flags have meanings different than those of the
historical commands.
Operands
The following operands are available:
directory
The destination directory pathname for copies when both the -r and
-w options are specified. The directory must exist and be writable
before the copy or and error results.
pathname
A file whose contents are used instead of the files named on the
standard input. When a directory is named, all of its files and
(recursively) subdirectories are copied as well.
pattern
A pattern is given in the standard shell pattern matching notation.
The default if no pattern is specified is * \*O, which selects all
files.
EXAMPLES
1. The following command copies the contents of the current directory to
tape drive 0:
$ pax -w -f /dev/rmt0 .
2. The following commands copy the contents of olddir to newdir:
$ mkdir newdir
$ cd olddir
$ pax -rw . newdir
3. The following command reads the archive pax.out, with all files rooted
in /usr in the archive extracted relative to the current directory:
$ pax -r -s ',//*usr//*,,' -f pax.out
NOTES
Special permissions may be required to copy or extract special files.
Device, user ID, and group ID numbers larger than 65535 cause additional
header records to be output. These records are ignored by some historical
versions of cpio(1) and tar(1).
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The archive formats described in Archive/Interchange File Format have
certain restrictions that have been carried over from historical usage.
For example, there are restrictions on the length of pathnames stored in
the archive.
When getting an ls -l style listing on tar format archives, link counts
are listed as zero since the ustar archive format does not keep link count
information.
FILES
/dev/tty
Used to prompt the user for information when the -i or -y flags are
specified.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 1989 Mark H. Colburn, all rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided
that the above copyright notice is duplicated in all such forms and that
any documentation, advertising materials, and other materials related to
such distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed by
Mark H. Colburn and sponsored by The USENIX Association.
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: cpio(1), find(1), tar(1)
Files: cpio(4)
ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (IEEE Std 1003.1-1990).
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