patool/doc/patool.txt

PATOOL(1)                                                            PATOOL(1)



NAME
       patool - portable command line archive file manager

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

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 fall‐
       back 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), TAR (.tar),
       XZ (.xz) and ZIP (.zip, .jar) formats.  It relies  on  helper  applica‐
       tions  to handle those archive formats (for example bzip2 for BZIP2 ar‐
       chives).

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. This is the default command if  no  com‐
       mand was given.
       Often  one  wants to extract all files in an archive to a single subdi‐
       rectory.  However, some archives contain multiple files in  their  root
       directories.  The  patool  program  overcomes  this  problem  by  first
       extracting files to a unique (temporary) directory, and then moving its
       contents  back  if  possible. This also prevents local files from being
       overwritten by mistake.
       All extracted files are checked that they are readable by  the  current
       user.

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

       --help Show help for this command.

   list
       List files in an archive.

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

       --help Show help for this command.

   create
       Create an archive from given files. At least on of the given  files  to
       add to the archive has to exist.

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

       --help Show help for this command.

   test
       Test files in an archive.

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

       --help Show help for this command.

   diff
       Show differences between two archives.

       --help Show help for this command.

   repack
       Repackage archive to a different format.

       --help Show help for this command.

   formats
       Show all supported archive formats.

       --help Show help for this command.

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

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2010 Bastian Kleineidam



patool                           February 2010                       PATOOL(1)