patool/doc/patool.txt

PATOOL(1)                                                    PATOOL(1)



NAME
       patool - portable command line archive file manager

SYNOPSIS
        patool (extract|list|test) [--verbose] <archive-file>...
        patool create [--verbose] <archive-file> [files...]
        patool diff <archive1> <archive2>
        patool repack <archive1> <archive2>
        patool formats

DESCRIPTION
       Various  archive  types  can  be created, extracted, tested and
       listed by patool. The advantage of patool is its simplicity  in
       handling  archive  files without having to remember a myriad of
       programs and options.

       The archive format is determined by the file(1) program and  as
       a fallback by the archive file extension.

       patool  supports  7z  (.7z), ACE (.ace), ALZIP (.alz), AR (.a),
       ARC (.arc), ARJ (.arj),  BZIP2  (.bz2),  CAB  (.cab),  compress
       (.Z),  CPIO  (.cpio), DEB (.deb), GZIP (.gz), LRZIP (.lrz), LZH
       (.lha, .lzh),  LZIP  (.lz),  LZMA  (.lzma),  LZOP  (.lzo),  RPM
       (.rpm),  RAR  (.rar),  RZIP  (.rz),  TAR  (.tar), XZ (.xz), ZIP
       (.zip, .jar) and ZOO  (.zoo)  formats.   It  relies  on  helper
       applications to handle those archive formats (for example bzip2
       for BZIP2 archives).

EXAMPLES
         patool extract archive.zip otherarchive.rar
         patool test --verbose dist.tar.gz
         patool list package.deb
         patool create --verbose myfiles.zip file1.txt dir/
         patool diff release1.0.tar.gz release2.0.zip
         patool repack linux-2.6.33.tar.gz linux-2.6.33.tar.bz2

COMMANDS
       Several commands and options are available.

   extract
       Extract files from an archive. The original archive will  never
       be removed and is left as it is.
       This is the default command if no command was given.

       Files  are  always extracted to a unique temporary directory in
       the current working directory. If the archive contains  exactly
       one  file  or  directory, the archive contents are moved to the
       current working directory and the temporary directory  will  be
       removed.
       This  prevents  cluttering the current working directory with a
       lot of files from the extracted archive.

       All extracted files are ensured that they are readable  by  the
       current user.

       -v, --verbose
              Be  verbose  when  extracting (if the helper application
              supports it).

   list
       List files in an archive.

       -v, --verbose
              Verbose archive listing (if the helper application  sup‐
              ports it).

   create
       Create  an  archive  from given files. At least on of the given
       files to add to the archive has to  exist  (non-existing  files
       are  ignored).   The  format of the archive to create is deter‐
       mined by the archive file extension.

       -v, --verbose
              Verbose operation (if the  helper  application  supports
              it).

   test
       Test  files  in  an archive. If the helper application does not
       support testing, the archive contents are listed instead.

       -v, --verbose
              Verbose archive testing (if the helper application  sup‐
              ports it).

   diff
       Show differences between two archives with the diff(1) utility.
       The diff options used are -urN.

   repack
       Repackage archive to a different  format.  The  target  archive
       format is determined by the file extension.

   formats
       Show  all  supported archive formats (ie. which helper applica‐
       tions are available).

HELP OPTION
       Specifying the help option displays help for patool itself,  or
       a command.
       For example:
         patool --help - display help for patool
         patool extract --help - display help for the extract command

AUTHOR
       Bastian Kleineidam <calvin@users.sourceforge.net>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2010 Bastian Kleineidam



patool                       February 2010                   PATOOL(1)