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 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.  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 cur‐
       rent working directory). If the archive contains exactly  one  file  or
       directory, the archive contents are moved to the current working direc‐
       tory and the temporary directory will be removed.
       This ensures that always one entry will be extracted.

       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).

   list
       List files in an archive.

       -v, --verbose
              Verbose archive listing (if the helper application supports 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  determined  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 supports 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  applications  are
       available).

HELP OPTION
       Specifying  the  help option displays help for patool itself, or a com‐
       mand.
       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)