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pax(1)
NAME
pax - Extracts, writes, and lists archive files
SYNOPSIS
Listing Member Files of Archived Files
pax [-cdnv] [-f archive] [-s replacement_string]... [pattern...]
Extracting Archive Files
pax -r [-cdiknuvyz] [-f archive] [-p string]... [-s replacement_string]...
[pattern...]
Writing Archive Files
pax -w [-adituvVXy] [-b blocksize] [-f archive] [-s replacement_string]...
[-x format] [file...]
Copying Files
pax -r -w [-diklntuvVXy] [-p string]... [-s replacement_string]...
[file...] directory
The pax command extracts, writes, and lists members of archive files. It
also copies files and directory hierarchies.
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards
as follows:
pax: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about
industry standards and associated tags.
OPTIONS
-a Appends files to the end of the archive. Certain devices might not
support appending.
-b blocksize
Specifies the block size for output to be the positive decimal integer
of bytes specified by the blocksize argument. The block size value
cannot exceed 32,256, the maximum size for POSIX portability. Blocking
is automatically determined on input.
-c Matches all file or archive members except those specified by the
pattern or file arguments.
-d Causes directories being copied or archived, or archived directories
being extracted, to match only the directory or archived directory
itself and not the contents of the directory or archived directory.
-f archive
Specifies the path of an archive file to be used instead of standard
input (when the -w option is not specified) or the standard output
(when the -w option is specified but the -r option is not). When
specified with the -a option, any files written to the archive are
appended to the end of the archive.
-i Interactively renames files or archives interactively. For each archive
member that matches the pattern argument or file that matches a file
argument, a prompt is written to the terminal (/dev/tty) that contains
the name of a file or archive member. A line is then read from the
terminal. If this line is empty, the file or archive member is skipped.
If this line consists of a dot, the file or archive member is processed
with no modification to its name. Otherwise, its name is replaced with
the contents of the line. The pax command immediately exits with a
nonzero exit status if an End-of-File is encountered when reading a
response or if it cannot read or write to the terminal.
-k Prevents the pax command from writing over existing files.
-l Links files when copying files. When both -r and -w are specified,
hard links are established between the source and destination file
hierarchies whenever possible.
-n Selects the first archive member that matches each pattern argument.
No more than one archive member is matched for each pattern (although
members of type directory will still match the file hierarchy rooted at
that file).
-p string
Specifies one or more file characteristics to be retained or discarded
on extraction. The string argument consists of the characters a, e, m,
o, and p. Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same
string and multiple -p options can be specified. The specification
flags have the following meanings:
a Does not retain file-access times.
e Retains the user ID, group ID, access permission, access time, and
modification time.
m Does not retain file-modification times.
o Retains the user ID and the group ID.
p Retains the access permission.
Retain means that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking process;
otherwise, the attribute is determined as part of the normal file
creation action.
If neither the e nor the o flag is specified, or the user ID and group
ID are not retained, the pax command does not set the S_ISUID and
S_ISGID bits of the access permission. If the retention of any of these
items fails, the pax command writes a diagnostic message to standard
error. Failure to retain any of the items affects the exit status, but
does not cause the extracted file to be deleted. If specification flags
are duplicated or conflict with each other, the ones given last take
precedence. For example, if -p eme is specified, file-modification
times are retained.
-r Reads an archive file and any associated extended attributes from the
standard input.
-s replacement_string
Modifies file-member or archive-member names specified by the pattern
or file arguments according to the substitution expression
replacement_string, using the syntax of the ed command. The
substitution expression has the following format:
-s /old/new/ [gp]
In the ed command, old is a basic regular expression and new can
contain an & (ampersand), \n (n is a digit) back references, or
subexpression matching. The old string can also contain newline
characters.
Any nonnull character can be used as a delimiter. The slash (/)
character is the delimiter in the previous format). Multiple -s option
expressions can be specified; the expressions are applied in the order
specified, terminating with the first successful substitution. The
optional trailing g character performs as in the ed command. The
optional trailing p character causes successful substitutions to be
written to the standard error. File-member or archive-member names that
substitute to the empty string are ignored when reading and writing
archives.
-t Causes the access times of the archived files to be the same as they
were before being read by the pax command.
-u Ignores files that are older (having a less recent file modification
time) than a preexisting file or archive member with the same name.
When extracting files (-r option), an archive member with the same name
as a file in the file system is extracted if the archive member is
newer than the file.
When writing files to an archive file (-w option), an archive member
with the same name as a file in the file system is superseded if the
file is newer than the archive member.
When copying files to a destination directory (-rw options), the file
in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file
in the source hierarchy is newer.
-v Writes information about the process. If neither the -r or -w options
are specified, the -v option produces a verbose table of contents that
resembles the output of ls -l; otherwise, archive-member pathnames are
written to standard error.
-V [Tru64 UNIX] Prevents any extended attributes from being archived with
associated files. This option is particularly useful for archiving
files that are to be restored with previous versions of tar and cpio.
-w [Tru64 UNIX] Writes files and any extended attributes to the standard
output in the specified archive format.
-x format
Specifies the output archive format. The pax command recognizes the
following formats:
cpio
Extended cpio interchange format. The default blocking value for
this format for character special archive files is 5120. Blocking
values from 512 to 32,256 in increments of 512 are supported.
xtar
Extended tar interchange format. The default blocking value for
this format for character special archive files is 10240. Blocking
values from 512 to 32,256 in increments of 512 are supported. This
option lets the user archive long file names and extended UID/GID
values.
ustar
Extended tar interchange format. This is the default output
archive format. The default blocking value for this format for
character special archive files is 10240. Blocking values from 512
to 32,256 in increments of 512 are supported.
Any attempt to append to an archive file in a format different from the
existing archive format causes the pax command to exit immediately with
a nonzero exit status.
-X When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname, the pax
command does not descend into directories that have a different device
ID.
-y [Tru64 UNIX] Prompts interactively for the disposition of each file.
Substitutions specified by the -s option are performed before you are
prompted for disposition. An EOF marker or an input line starting with
the character "q" causes the pax command to exit. Otherwise, an input
line starting with anything other than the character "y" causes the
file to be ignored.
z [Tru64 UNIX] Positions the tape after the EOF marker on extraction or
listing. The z option lets the user extract or list tapes that have
multiple archives on them one after the other without error as a result
of the tape not being positioned correctly for the next extraction or
listing.
Option Interaction and Processing Order
The options that operate on the names of files or archive members (-c, -i,
-n, -s, -u, and -v) interact as follows.
When extracting files (-r option), archive members are selected, using the
modified names, according to the user-specified pattern arguments as
modified by the -c, -n, and -u options. Then, any -s and -i options
modify, in that order, the names of the selected files. The -v option
writes the names resulting from these modifications.
When writing files to an archive file (-w option), or when copying files,
the files are selected according to the user-specified pathnames as
modified by the -n and -u options. Then, any -s and -i options modify, in
that order, the names resulting from these modifications. The -v option
writes the names resulting from these modifications.
If both the -u and -n options are specified, the pax command does not
consider a file selected unless it is newer than the file to which it is
compared.
OPERANDS
directory
The destination directory pathname for copy mode.
file
A pathname of a file to be copied or archived.
pattern
A pattern matching one or more pathnames of archive members. A pattern
must be given in name-generating notation. The default, if no pattern
is specified, is to select all members in the archive.
DESCRIPTION
The pax command extracts and writes member files and any associated,
extended attributes of archive files; writes lists of the member files of
archives; and copies directory hierarchies. The -r and -w options specify
the archive operation performed by the pax command.
The pattern argument specifies a pattern that matches one or more paths of
archive members. A \ (backslash) character is not recognized in the pattern
argument and it prevents the subsequent character from having any special
meaning. If no pattern argument is specified, all members are selected in
the archive.
If a pattern argument is specified, but no archive members are found that
match the pattern specified, the pax command detects the error, exits with
a nonzero exit status, and writes a diagnostic message.
The pax command can read both tar and cpio archives. In the case of cpio,
this means that pax can read ASCII archives (which are created with cpio
-c) and binary archives (which are created without the -c option). The
supported archive formats are automatically detected on input.
The pax command can also write archives that tar and cpio can read; by
default, pax writes archives in the ustar extended tar interchange format.
The pax command also writes ASCII cpio archives; use the -x cpio option to
specify this extended cpio output format.
Listing Member Files of Archived Files
When neither the -r nor the -w options are specified, the pax command
writes the names of the members of the archive file read from the standard
input, with pathnames matching the specified patterns, to the standard
output. If a named file is a directory, the file hierarchy contained in the
directory is also written. You can specify the pax command without the -r
or -w options with the -c, -d, -f, -n, -s, and -v options, and with the
pattern argument.
If neither the -r or -w options are included, pax lists the contents of the
specified archive, one file per line. The pax command lists hard link
pathnames as follows:
pathname == linkname
The pax command lists symbolic link pathnames as follows:
pathname -> linkname
In both of the preceding cases, pathname is the name of the file that is
being extracted, and linkname is the name of a file that appeared earlier
in the archive.
If the -v option is specified, the listing of hard link pathnames is output
in the ls -l command format.
Extracting Archive Files
When the -r option is specified, but the -w option is not, the pax command
extracts the members of an archive file and any extended attributes read
from the standard input, and with pathnames matching the pattern argument
if one is specified. If an extracted file is a directory, the file
hierarchy contained in the directory is also extracted. The extracted files
are created relative to the current file hierarchy. The -r option can be
specified with the -c, -d, -f, -n, -s, and -v options, and a pattern
argument.
The access and modification times of the extracted files are the same as
the archived files. The access permissions of the extracted files remain as
archived unless affected by the user's default file creation mode. The
S_ISUID and S_ISGID bits of the extracted files are cleared.
If intermediate directories are necessary to extract an archive member, the
pax command creates the directories with access permissions set as the
bitwise inclusive OR of the values of the S_IRWXU, S_IRWXG, and S_IRWXO
options.
If the selected archive format supports the specification of linked files
(both the tar and cpio formats do), it is an error if these files cannot be
linked when the archive is extracted. The pax command informs you of the
error and continues processing.
Writing Archive Files
When the -w option is specified and the -r option is not, the pax command
writes the contents of the files and any extended attributes specified by
the file arguments to the standard output in an archive format. If no file
arguments are specified, a list of files to copy, one per line, is read
from the standard input. When the file argument specifies a directory, all
of the files and any extended attributes contained in the directory are
written. The -w option can be specified with the -b, -d, -f, -i, -s, -t,
-u, -v, -x, and -X options and with file arguments.
If -w is specified, but no files are specified, standard input is used. If
neither -f or -w are specified, standard input must be an archive file.
Copying Files
When both the -r and -w options are specified, the pax command copies the
files and any extended attributes specified by the file arguments to the
destination directory specified by the directory argument. If no file
arguments are specified, a list of files to copy, one per line, is read
from the standard input. If a specified file is a directory, the file
hierarchy contained in the directory is also copied. The -r and -w options
can be specified with the -d, -i, -k, -l, -p, -n, -s, -t, -u, -v, and -X
options and with the file arguments. A directory argument must be
specified.
Copied files are the same as if they were written to an archive file and
subsequently extracted.
NOTES
1. [Tru64 UNIX] When you use the -i option (interactively renames files)
on files to which there are hard links, pax does not create hard links
to the renamed files.
2. [Tru64 UNIX] Archives created with the new pax utility and having
cpio format can be restored using only the new pax or cpio commands
even if none of the archived files have extended attributes.
3. [Tru64 UNIX] To achieve backward compatibility of archived files,
invoke the -V option to disable the archiving of extended attributes
altogether.
4. [Tru64 UNIX] Socket files are ignored while archiving through the pax
command.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
EXAMPLES
1. To copy the contents of the current directory to the tape drive,
enter:
pax -w -f /dev/tape0_d0 .
2. To copy the olddir directory hierarchy to newdir, enter:
mkdir newdir
(cd ./olddir ; pax -p e -rw . ../newdir)
3. To read the archive a.pax, with all files rooted in the directory /usr
in the archive extracted relative to the current directory, enter:
pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
All of the preceding examples create archives in tar format.
The following pairs of commands demonstrate conversions from cpio and
tar to pax. In all cases, the examples show comparable command-line
usage rather than identical output formats. The -x option can be
specified to the pax commands shown here, producing archives to select
specific output formats:
ls * | cpio -ocv
pax -wdv *
find /mydir -type f -print | cpio -oc
find /mydir -type f -print | pax -w
cpio -icdum < archive
pax -r < archive
(find fromdir -print) | cpio -pdlum todir
pax -rwl fromdir todir
tar cf archive *
pax -w -f archive *
tar xfv - < archive
pax -rv < archive
(cd fromdir; tar cf - . ) | (cd todir; tar xpf -)
pax -rw -p e fromdir todir
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables affect the execution of pax:
LANG
Provides a default value for the internationalization variables that
are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value
from the default locale is used. If any of the internationalization
variables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of
the variables had been defined.
LC_ALL
If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of all the
other internationalization variables.
LC_CTYPE
Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of
text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to
multibyte characters in arguments and input files), the behavior of
character classes used in the extended regular expressions defined for
the yesexpr locale keyword in the LC_MESSAGES category, and pattern
matching.
LC_MESSAGES
Determines the locale for the format and contents of diagnostic
messages written to standard error.
NLSPATH
Determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of
LC_MESSAGES.
SEE ALSO
Commands: cpio(1), ed(1), tar(1)
Files: tar(4)
Standards: standards(5)
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