patool/doc/patool.txt

PATOOL(1)                                                    PATOOL(1)



NAME
       patool - portable command line archive file manager

SYNOPSIS
        patool (list|test) [--verbose] <archive-file>...
        patool   extract   [--verbose]   [--outdir=DIRNAME]  <archive-
       file>...
        patool create [--verbose] <archive-file> [files...]
        patool diff [--verbose] <archive1> <archive2>
        patool search [--verbose] <pattern> <archive-file>...
        patool repack [--verbose] <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), ADF (.adf), ALZIP (.alz),
       APE  (.ape), AR (.a), ARC (.arc), ARJ (.arj), BZIP2 (.bz2), CAB
       (.cab), compress (.Z), CPIO (.cpio), DEB  (.deb),  DMS  (.dms),
       FLAC  (.flac), GZIP (.gz), LRZIP (.lrz), LZH (.lha, .lzh), LZIP
       (.lz), LZMA (.lzma), LZOP (.lzo), RPM (.rpm), RAR (.rar),  RZIP
       (.rz),  SHN  (.shn), 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).

       The  archive  formats  TAR (.tar), ZIP (.zip), BZIP2 (.bz2) and
       GZIP (.gz) are supported natively and  do  not  require  helper
       applications to be installed.

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 search "def urlopen" python-3.3.tar.gz
         patool repack linux-2.6.33.tar.gz linux-2.6.33.tar.bz2

COMMANDS
       The following rules apply to all commands:

       ·   Existing files are never overwritten.

       ·   The original archive will never be removed.

       ·   Verbose  operation  displays  more  info  about what patool
           does. It also displays more info from the  helper  applica‐
           tion if it's supported.

       Several commands 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.

       If the archive contains exactly one file or directory, the  ar‐
       chive  contents are extracted to the current working directory.
       Else the files are extracted in a newly created subdirectory of
       the current working directory. The new directory is named after
       the archive filename without the extension.
       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.

   list
       List files in an archive.

   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.

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

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

   search
       Search  in archive contents for given pattern using the grep(1)
       program.  The grep options used are -r; additional options  can
       be supplied with the GREP_OPTIONS environment variable.

   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 <bastian.kleineidam@web.de>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2010-2013 Bastian Kleineidam



patool                       February 2013                   PATOOL(1)