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User Commands pax(1)
NAME
pax - portable archive interchange
SYNOPSIS
pax [-cdnv] [-H | -L] [-f archive] [-o options]... [-
s replstr]... [pattern...]
pax -r [-cdiknuv] [-H | -L] [-f archive] [-o options]...
[-p string]... [-s replstr]... [pattern...]
pax -w [-dituvX@] [-H | -L] [-b blocksize] [-a] [-
f archive] [-o options]... [-s replstr]... [-x format]
[file...]
pax -r -w [-diklntuvX@] [-H | -L] [-o options]... [-
p string]... [-s replstr]... [file...] directory
DESCRIPTION
The pax utility reads, writes, and writes lists of the
members of archive files and copies directory hierarchies. A
variety of archive formats are supported. See the -x format
option.
Modes of Operations
The action to be taken depends on the presence of the -r and
-w options. The four combinations of -r and -w are referred
to as the four modes of operation: list, read, write, and
copy modes, corresponding respectively to the four forms
shown in the SYNOPSIS.
list In list mode, that is, when neither -r nor -w are
specified, pax writes the names of the members of
the archive file read from the standard input, with
path names matching the specified patterns, to
standard output. If a named file has extended
attributes, the extended attributes are also
listed. If a named file is of type directory, the
file hierarchy rooted at that file is listed as
well.
read In read mode, that is, when -r is specified, but -w
is not, pax extracts the members of the archive
file read from the standard input, with path names
matching the specified patterns. If an extracted
file is of type directory, the file hierarchy
rooted at that file is extracted as well. The
extracted files are created performing path name
resolution with the directory in which pax was
invoked as the current working directory.
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User Commands pax(1)
If an attempt is made to extract a directory when
the directory already exists, this is not con-
sidered an error. If an attempt is made to extract
a FIFO when the FIFO already exists, this is not
considered an error.
The ownership, access and modification times, and
file mode of the restored files are discussed under
the -p option.
write In write mode, that is, when -w is specified, but
-r is not, pax writes the contents of the file
operands to the standard output in an archive for-
mat. If no file operands are specified, a list of
files to copy, one per line, are read from the
standard input. A file of type directory includes
all of the files in the file hierarchy rooted at
the file.
copy In copy mode, that is, when both -r and -w are
specified, pax copies the file operands to the des-
tination directory.
If no file operands are specified, a list of files
to copy, one per line, are read from the standard
input. A file of type directory includes all of the
files in the file hierarchy rooted at the file.
The effect of the copy is as if the copied files
were written to an archive file and then subse-
quently extracted, except that there can be hard
links between the original and the copied files. If
the destination directory is a subdirectory of one
of the files to be copied, the results are unspeci-
fied. It is an error if directory does not exist,
is not writable by the user, or is not a directory.
In read or copy modes, if intermediate directories are
necessary to extract an archive member, pax performs actions
equivalent to the mkdir(2) function, called with the follow-
ing arguments:
o The intermediate directory used as the path argument.
o The octal value of 777 or rwx (read, write, and execute
permissions) as the mode argument (see chmod(1)).
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If any specified pattern or file operands are not matched by
at least one file or archive member, pax writes a diagnostic
message to standard error for each one that did not match
and exits with a non-zero exit status.
The supported archive formats are automatically detected on
input. The default output archive format is tar(1).
A single archive can span multiple files. The pax utility
determines what file to read or write as the next file.
If the selected archive format supports the specification of
linked files, it is an error if these files cannot be linked
when the archive is extracted, except if the files to be
linked are symbolic links and the system is not capable of
making hard links to symbolic links. In that case, separate
copies of the symbolic link are created instead. Any of the
various names in the archive that represent a file can be
used to select the file for extraction. For archive formats
that do not store file contents with each name that causes a
hard link, if the file that contains the data is not
extracted during this pax session, either the data is
restored from the original file, or a diagnostic message is
displayed with the name of a file that can be used to
extract the data. In traversing directories, pax detects
infinite loops, that is, entering a previously visited
directory that is an ancestor of the last file visited. When
it detects an infinite loop, pax writes a diagnostic message
to standard error and terminates.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-a Appends files to the end of the archive.
This option does not work for some archive
devices, such as 1/4-inch streaming tapes
and 8mm tapes.
-b blocksize Blocks the output at a positive decimal
integer number of bytes per write to the
archive file. Devices and archive formats
can impose restrictions on blocking. Block-
ing is automatically determined on input.
Portable applications must not specify a
blocksize value larger than 32256. Default
blocking when creating archives depends on
the archive format. See the -x option below.
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-c Matches all file or archive members except
those specified by the pattern or file
operands.
-d Causes files of type directory being copied
or archived or archive members of type
directory being extracted or listed to match
only the file or archive member itself and
not the file hierarchy rooted at the file.
-f archive Specifies the path name of the input or out-
put archive, overriding the default standard
input (in list or read modes) or standard
output (write mode).
-H If a symbolic link referencing a file of
type directory is specified on the command
line, pax archives the file hierarchy rooted
in the file referenced by the link, using
the name of the link as the root of the file
hierarchy. Otherwise, if a symbolic link
referencing a file of any other file type
which pax can normally archive is specified
on the command line, then pax archives the
file referenced by the link, using the name
of the link. The default behavior is to
archive the symbolic link itself.
-i Interactively renames files or archive
members. For each archive member matching a
pattern operand or file matching a file
operand, a prompt is written to the file
/dev/tty. The prompt contains the name of
the file or archive member. A line is then
read from /dev/tty. If this line is blank,
the file or archive member is skipped. If
this line consists of a single period, the
file or archive member is processed with no
modification to its name. Otherwise, its
name is replaced with the contents of the
line. pax immediately exits with a non-zero
exit status if end-of-file is encountered
when reading a response or if /dev/tty can-
not be opened for reading and writing.
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The results of extracting a hard link to a
file that has been renamed during extraction
are unspecified.
-k Prevents the overwriting of existing files.
-l Links files. In copy mode, hard links are
made between the source and destination file
hierarchies whenever possible. If specified
in conjunction with -H or -L, when a sym-
bolic link is encountered, the hard link
created in the destination file hierarchy is
to the file referenced by the symbolic link.
If specified when neither -H nor -L is
specified, when a symbolic link is encoun-
tered, the implementation creates a hard
link to the symbolic link in the source file
hierarchy or copies the symbolic link to the
destination.
-L If a symbolic link referencing a file of
type directory is specified on the command
line or encountered during the traversal of
a file hierarchy, pax archives the file
hierarchy rooted in the file referenced by
the link, using the name of the link as the
root of the file hierarchy. Otherwise, if a
symbolic link referencing a file of any
other file type which pax can normally
archive is specified on the command line or
encountered during the traversal of a file
hierarchy, pax archives the file referenced
by the link, using the name of the link. The
default behavior is to archive the symbolic
link itself.
-n Selects the first archive member that
matches each pattern operand. No more than
one archive member is matched for each pat-
tern, although members of type directory
still match the file hierarchy rooted at
that file.
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User Commands pax(1)
-o options Provides information to the implementation
to modify the algorithm for extracting or
writing files. The value of options consists
of one or more comma-separated keywords of
the form:
keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value], ...]
Some keywords apply only to certain file
formats, as indicated with each description.
Use of keywords that are inapplicable to the
file format being processed produces unde-
fined results.
Keywords in the options argument must be a
string that would be a valid portable
filename.
Keywords are not expected to be filenames,
merely to follow the same character composi-
tion rules as portable filenames.
Keywords can be preceded with white space.
The value field consists of zero or more
characters. Within value, the application
precedes any literal comma with a backslash,
which is ignored, but preserves the comma as
part of value. A comma as the final charac-
ter, or a comma followed solely by white
space as the final characters, in options is
ignored. Multiple -o options can be speci-
fied. If keywords given to these multiple -o
options conflict, the keywords and values
appearing later in command line sequence
take precedence and the earlier ones are
silently ignored. The following keyword
values of options are supported for the file
formats as indicated:
delete=pattern
This keyword is applicable only to the
-x pax format. When used in write or
copy mode, pax omits from extended
header records that it produces any key-
words matching the string pattern. When
used in read or list mode, pax ignores
any keywords matching the string pattern
in the extended header records. In both
cases, matching is performed using the
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User Commands pax(1)
pattern matching notation. For example:
-o delete=security.*
would suppress security-related informa-
tion.
When multiple -o delete=pattern options
are specified, the patterns are addi-
tive. All keywords matching the speci-
fied string patterns are omitted from
extended header records that pax pro-
duces.
exthdr.name=string
This keyword is applicable only to the
-x pax format. This keyword allows user
control over the name that is written
into the ustar header blocks for the
extended header. The name is the con-
tents of string, after the following
character substitutions have been made:
%d The directory name of the file,
equivalent to the result of the
dirname utility on the
translated path name.
%f The filename of the file,
equivalent to the result of the
basename utility on the
translated path name.
%p The process ID of the pax pro-
cess.
%% A '%' character.
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Any other '%' characters in string pro-
duce undefined results.
If no -o exthdr.name=string is speci-
fied, pax uses the following default
value:
%d/PaxHeaders.%p/%f
globexthdr.name=string
This keyword is applicable only to the
-x pax format. When used in write or
copy mode with the appropriate options,
pax creates global extended header
records with ustar header blocks that
are treated as regular files by previous
versions of pax. This keyword allows
user control over the name that is writ-
ten into the ustar header blocks for
global extended header records. The name
is the contents of string, after the
following character substitutions have
been made:
%n An integer that represents the
sequence number of the global
extended header record in the
archive, starting at 1.
%p The process ID of the pax pro-
cess.
%% A '%' character.
Any other '%' characters in string pro-
duce undefined results.
If no -o globexthdr.name=string is
specified, pax uses the following
default value:
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User Commands pax(1)
$TMPDIR/GlobalHead.%p.%n
where $TMPDIR represents the value of
the TMPDIR environment variable. If
TMPDIR is not set, pax uses /tmp.
invalid=action
This keyword is applicable only to the
-x pax format. This keyword allows user
control over the action pax takes upon
encountering values in an extended
header record that, in read or copy
mode, are invalid in the destination
hierarchy or, in list mode , cannot be
written in the codeset and current
locale of the implementation. The fol-
lowing are invalid values that are
recognized by pax:
o In read or copy mode, a filename or
link name that contains character
encodings invalid in the destina-
tion hierarchy. For example, the
name can contain embedded NULs.
o In read or copy mode, a filename or
link name that is longer than the
maximum allowed in the destination
hierarchy, for either a path name
component or the entire path name.
o In list mode, any character string
value (filename, link name, user
name, and so on) that cannot be
written in the codeset and current
locale of the implementation.
The following mutually-exclusive values
of the action argument are supported:
bypass In read or copy mode, pax
bypasses the file, causing no
change to the destination
hierarchy. In list mode, pax
writes all requested valid
values for the file, but its
method for writing invalid
values is unspecified.
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User Commands pax(1)
rename In read or copy mode, pax acts
as if the -i option were in
effect for each file with
invalid filename or link name
values, allowing the user to
provide a replacement name
interactively. In list mode,
pax behaves identically to the
bypass action.
UTF-8 pax uses the actual UTF-8
encoding for the name when it
is used in read, copy, or list
mode and a filename, link name,
owner name, or any other field
in an extended header record
cannot be translated from the
pax UTF-8 codeset format to the
codeset and current locale of
the implementation.
write In read or copy mode, pax
writes the file, translating
the name, regardless of whether
this can overwrite an existing
file with a valid name. In list
mode, pax behaves identically
to the bypass action.
If no -o invalid= option is specified,
pax acts as if -o invalid=bypass were
specified. Any overwriting of existing
files that can be allowed by the -o
invalid= actions are subject to permis-
sion (-p) and modification time (-u)
restrictions, and are suppressed if the
-k option is also specified.
linkdata
This keyword is applicable only to the
-x pax format. In write mode, pax writes
the contents of a file to the archive
even when that file is merely a hard
link to a file whose contents have
already been written to the archive.
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User Commands pax(1)
listopt=format
This keyword specifies the output format
of the table of contents produced when
the -v option is specified in list mode.
(See List Mode Format Specifications
below.) To avoid ambiguity, the
listopt=format is the only or final
keyword=value pair in an -o option-
argument. All characters in the
remainder of the option-argument are
considered to be part of the format
string. When multiple -o listopt=format
options are specified, the format
strings are considered to be a single,
concatenated string, evaluated in com-
mand line order.
times
This keyword is applicable only to the
-x pax and -x xustar formats. When used
in write or copy mode, pax includes
atime and mtime extended header records
for each file.
In addition to these keywords, if the -x pax
format is specified, any of the keywords and
values, including implementation extensions,
can be used in -o option-arguments, in
either of two modes:
keyword=value When used in write or copy
mode, these keyword/value
pairs are included at the
beginning of the archive as
typeflag g global extended
header records. When used
in read or list mode, these
keyword/value pairs act as
if they had been at the
beginning of the archive as
typeflag g global extended
header records.
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User Commands pax(1)
keyword:=value When used in write or copy
mode, these keyword/value
pairs are included as
records at the beginning of
a typeflag x extended header
for each file. This is
equivalent to the equal-sign
form except that it creates
no typeflag g global
extended header records.
When used in read or list
mode, these keyword/value
pairs act as if they were
included as records at the
end of each extended header.
Thus, they override any glo-
bal or file-specific
extended header record key-
words of the same names. For
example, in the command:
pax -r -o "
gname:=mygroup,
" <archive
the group name is forced to
a new value for all files
read from the archive.
-p string Specifies one or more file characteristic
options (privileges). The string option-
argument must be a string specifying file
characteristics to be retained or discarded
on extraction. The string consists of the
specification characters a, e, m, o, and p.
Multiple characteristics can be concatenated
within the same string and multiple -p
options can be specified. The meaning of the
specification characters is as follows:
a Does not preserve file access
times.
e Preserves the user ID, group ID,
file mode bits, access time, and
modification time.
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User Commands pax(1)
m Does not preserve file modification
times.
o Preserves the user ID and group ID.
p Preserves the file mode bits.
In the preceding list, ``preserve'' indi-
cates that an attribute stored in the
archive is given to the extracted file, sub-
ject to the permissions of the invoking pro-
cess. Otherwise, the attribute is determined
as part of the normal file creation action.
The access and modification times of the
file is preserved unless otherwise specified
with the -p option or not stored in the
archive. All attributes that are not
preserved are determined as part of the nor-
mal file creation action.
If neither the e nor the o specification
character is specified, or the user ID and
group ID are not preserved for any reason,
pax does not set the setuid and setgid bits
of the file mode.
If the preservation of any of these items
fails for any reason, pax writes a diagnos-
tic message to standard error. Failure to
preserve these items affects the final exit
status, but does not cause the extracted
file to be deleted.
If file-characteristic letters in any of the
string option-arguments are duplicated or
conflict with each other, the ones given
last take precedence. For example, if -p eme
is specified, file modification times are
preserved.
-r Reads an archive file from standard input.
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User Commands pax(1)
-s replstr Modifies file or archive member names named
by pattern or file operands according to the
substitution expression replstr, which is
based on the ed(1) s (substitution) utility,
using the regular expression syntax on the
regex(5) manual page. The concepts of
``address'' and ``line'' are meaningless in
the context of the pax command, and must not
be supplied. The format is:
-s /old/new/ [gp]
where, as in ed, old is a basic regular
expression and new can contain an ampersand
(&), a \n backreference, where n is a digit,
or subexpression matching. The old string is
also permitted to contain newlines.
Any non-null character can be used as a del-
imiter (/ shown here). Multiple -s expres-
sions can be specified. The expressions are
applied in the order specified, terminating
with the first successful substitution. The
optional trailing g is as defined in the ed
command. The optional trailing p causes suc-
cessful substitutions to be written to stan-
dard error. File or archive member names
that substitute to the empty string are
ignored when reading and writing archives.
-t When reading files from the file system, and
if the user has the permissions required by
utime() to do so, sets the access time of
each file read to the access time that it
had before being read by pax.
-u Ignores files that are older (having a less
recent file modification time) than a pre-
existing file or archive member with the
same name.
read mode 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.
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User Commands pax(1)
write mode An archive file member with
the same name as a file in
the file system is super-
seded if the file is newer
than the archive member. If
option -a is also specified,
this is accomplished by
appending to the archive.
Otherwise, it is unspecified
whether this is accomplished
by actual replacement in the
archive or by appending to
the archive.
copy mode 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 In list mode, produces a verbose table of
contents (see Standard Output). Otherwise,
writes archive member path names and
extended attributes to standard error (see
Standard Error).
-w Writes files to the standard output in the
specified archive format.
-x format Specifies the output archive format. The pax
utility recognizes the following formats:
cpio The extended cpio(1) interchange
format. See IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
The default blocksize for this for-
mat for character special archive
files is 5120. Implementations sup-
port all blocksize values less than
or equal to 32256 that are multi-
ples of 512.
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This archive format allows files
with UIDs and GIDs up to 262143 to
be stored in the archive. Files
with UIDs and GIDs greater than
this value are archived with the
UID and GID of 60001.
pax The pax interchange format. See
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. The default
blocksize for this format for char-
acter special archive files is
5120. Implementations support all
blocksize values less than or equal
to 32256 that are multiples of 512.
Similar to ustar. Also allows
archiving and extracting files
whose size is greater than 8GB;
whose UID, GID, devmajor, or devmi-
nor values are greater than
2097151; whose path (including
filename) is greater than 255 char-
acters; or whose linkname is
greater than 100 characters.
ustar The extended tar(1) interchange
format. See the IEEE 1003.1(1990)
specifications. The default block-
size for this format for character
special archive files is 10240.
Implementations support all block-
size values less than or equal to
32256 that are multiples of 512.
This archive format allows files
with UIDs and GIDs up to 2097151 to
be stored in the archive. Files
with UIDs and GIDs greater than
this value are archived with the
UID and GID of 60001.
xustar Similar to ustar. Also allows
archiving and extracting files
whose size is greater than 8GB;
whose UID, GID, devmajor, or
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User Commands pax(1)
devminor values are greater than
2097151; whose path (including
filename) is greater than 255 char-
acters; or whose linkname is
greater than 100 characters. This
option should not be used if the
archive is to be extracted by an
archiver that cannot handle the
larger values.
Any attempt to append to an archive file in
a format different from the existing archive
format causes pax to exit immediately with a
non-zero exit status.
In copy mode, if no -x format is specified,
pax behaves as if -x pax were specified.
-X When traversing the file hierarchy specified
by a path name, pax does not descend into
directories that have a different device ID
(st_dev, see stat(2)).
-@ When traversing the file hierarchy specified
by a path name, pax descends into the attri-
bute directory for any file with extended
attributes. Extended attributes go into the
archive as special files. When this flag is
used during file extraction, any extended
attributes associated with a file being
extracted are also extracted. Extended
attribute files can only be extracted from
an archive as part of a normal file extract.
Attempts to explicitly extract attribute
records are ignored.
Specifying more than one of the mutually-exclusive options
-H and -L is not considered an error. The last option speci-
fied determines the behavior of the utility.
The options that operate on the names of files or archive
members (-c, -i, -n, -s, -u and -v) interact as follows.
In read mode, the archive members are selected based on the
user-specified pattern operands as modified by the -c, -n
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User Commands pax(1)
and -u options. Then, any -s and -i options modify, in that
order, the names of the selected files. The -v option writes
names resulting from these modifications.
In write mode, the files are selected based on the user-
specified path names as modified by the -n and -u options.
Then, any -s and -i options modify, in that order, the names
of these selected files. The -v option writes names result-
ing from these modifications.
If both the -u and -n options are specified, pax does not
consider a file selected unless it is newer than the file to
which it is compared.
List Mode Format Specifications
In list mode with the -o listopt=format option, the format
argument is applied for each selected file. The pax utility
appends a newline to the listopt output for each selected
file. The format argument is used as the format string with
the following exceptions. (See printf(1) for the first five
exceptions.)
1. A SPACE character in the format string, in any context
other than a flag of a conversion specification, is
treated as an ordinary character that is copied to the
output.
2. A ' ' character in the format string is treated as a ' '
character, not as a SPACE.
3. In addition to the escape sequences described in the
formats(5) manual page (\\, \a, \b, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v),
\ddd, where ddd is a one-, two-, or three-digit octal
number, is written as a byte with the numeric value
specified by the octal number.
4. Output from the d or u conversion specifiers is not pre-
ceded or followed with BLANKs not specified by the for-
mat operand.
5. Output from the o conversion specifier is not preceded
with zeros that are not specified by the format operand.
6. The sequence (keyword) can occur before a format conver-
sion specifier. The conversion argument is defined by
the value of keyword. The following keywords are sup-
ported (see IEEE Std 1003.1-2001):
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User Commands pax(1)
o Any of the Field Name entries in ustar Header Block
and Octet-Oriented cpio Archive Entry. The imple-
mentation supports the cpio keywords without the
leading c_ in addition to the form required by
Values for cpio c_ mode Field.
o Any keyword defined for the extended header in pax
Extended Header.
o Any keyword provided as an implementation-defined
extension within the extended header defined in pax
Extended Header.
For example, the sequence "%(charset)s" is the string
value of the name of the character set in the extended
header.
The result of the keyword conversion argument is the
value from the applicable header field or extended
header, without any trailing NULs.
All keyword values used as conversion arguments are
translated from the UTF -8 encoding to the character set
appropriate for the local file system, user database,
and so on, as applicable.
7. An additional conversion specifier character, T, is used
to specify time formats. The T conversion specifier
character can be preceded by the sequence
(keyword=subformat), where subformat is a date format as
defined by date operands. The default keyword is mtime
and the default subformat is:
%b %e %H:%M %Y
8. An additional conversion specifier character, M, is used
to specify the file mode string as defined in ls Stan-
dard Output. If (keyword) is omitted, the mode keyword
is used. For example, %.1M writes the single character
corresponding to the entry type field of the ls -l com-
mand.
9. An additional conversion specifier character, D, is used
to specify the device for block or special files, if
applicable, in an implementation-defined format. If not
applicable, and (keyword) is specified, then this
conversion is equivalent to %(keyword)u. If not applica-
ble, and (keyword) is omitted, then this conversion is
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 25 Oct 2004 19
User Commands pax(1)
equivalent to SPACE.
10. An additional conversion specifier character, F, is used
to specify a path name. The F conversion character can
be preceded by a sequence of comma-separated keywords:
(keyword[,keyword] ... )
The values for all the keywords that are non-null are
concatenated, each separated by a '/'. The default is
(path) if the keyword path is defined. Otherwise, the
default is (prefix,name).
11. An additional conversion specifier character, L, is used
to specify a symbolic link expansion. If the current
file is a symbolic link, then %L expands to:
"%s -> %s", value of keyword, contents of link
Otherwise, the %L conversion specification is the
equivalent of %F.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
directory The destination directory path name for copy
mode.
file A path name of a file to be copied or
archived.
pattern A pattern matching one or more path names of
archive members. A pattern must conform to
the pattern matching notation found on the
fnmatch(5) manual page. The default, if no
pattern is specified, is to select all
members in the archive.
OUTPUT
Output formats are discussed below:
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User Commands pax(1)
Standard Output
In write mode, if -f is not specified, the standard output
is the archive formatted according to cpio or ustar. (See -x
format.)
In list mode, when the -o listopt=format option has been
specified, the selected archive members are written to stan-
dard output using the format described above under List Mode
Format Specifications. In list mode without the -o
listopt=format option, the table of contents of the selected
archive members are written to standard output using the
following format:
"%s\n", pathname
If the -v option is specified in list mode, the table of
contents of the selected archive members are written to
standard output using the following formats:
o For path names representing hard links to previous
members of the archive:
"%s == %s\n", <ls -l listing>, linkname
o For all other path names:
"%s\n", <ls -l listing>
where <ls -l listing> is the format specified by the ls
command with the -l option. When writing path names in
this format, it is unspecified what is written for
fields for which the underlying archive format does not
have the correct information, although the correct
number of blank-character-separated fields is written.
In list mode, standard output is not buffered more than a
line at a time.
Standard Error
If -v is specified in read, write or copy modes, pax writes
the path names it processes to the standard error output
using the following format:
"%s\n", pathname
These path names are written as soon as processing is begun
on the file or archive member, and are flushed to standard
error. The trailing newline character, which is not buf-
fered, is written when the file has been read or written.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 25 Oct 2004 21
User Commands pax(1)
If the -s option is specified, and the replacement string
has a trailing p, substitutions are written to standard
error in the following format:
"%s >> %s\n", <original pathname>, <new pathname>
In all operating modes of pax, optional messages of unspeci-
fied format concerning the input archive format and volume
number, the number of files, blocks, volumes, and media
parts as well as other diagnostic messages can be written to
standard error.
In all formats, for both standard output and standard error,
it is unspecified how non-printable characters in path names
or link names are written.
When pax is in read mode or list mode, using the -x pax
archive format, and a file name, link name, owner name, or
any other field in an extended header record cannot be
translated from the pax UTF-8 codeset format to the codeset
and current locale of the implementation, pax writes a diag-
nostic message to standard error, processes the file as
described for the -o invalid=option, and then processes the
next file in the archive.
Output Files
In read mode, the extracted output files are of the archived
file type. In copy mode, the copied output files are the
type of the file being copied . In either mode, existing
files in the destination hierarchy are overwritten only when
all permission (-p), modification time (-u), and invalid-
value (-o invalid=) tests allow it. In write mode, the out-
put file named by the -f option-argument is a file formatted
according to one of the specifications in IEEE Std 1003.1-
2001.
ERRORS
If pax cannot create a file or a link when reading an
archive, or cannot find a file when writing an archive, or
cannot preserve the user ID, group ID, or file mode when the
-p option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to
standard error and a non-zero exit status is returned, but
processing continues. In the case where pax cannot create a
link to a file, pax does not, by default, create a second
copy of the file.
If the extraction of a file from an archive is prematurely
terminated by a signal or error, pax can have only partially
extracted the file or, if the -n option was not specified,
can have extracted a file of the same name as that specified
by the user, but which is not the file the user wanted.
Additionally, the file modes of extracted directories can
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 25 Oct 2004 22
User Commands pax(1)
have additional bits from the read, write, execute mask set
as well as incorrect modification and access times.
USAGE
The -p (privileges) option was invented to reconcile differ-
ences between historical tar(1) and cpio(1) implementations.
In particular, the two utilities use -m in diametrically
opposed ways. The -p option also provides a consistent means
of extending the ways in which future file attributes can be
addressed, such as for enhanced security systems or high-
performance files. Although it can seem complex, there are
really two modes that are most commonly used:
-p e ``Preserve everything''. This would be used by the
historical superuser, someone with all the
appropriate privileges, to preserve all aspects of
the files as they are recorded in the archive. The
e flag is the sum of o and p, and other
implementation-dependent attributes.
-p p ``Preserve'' the file mode bits. This would be used
by the user with regular privileges who wished to
preserve aspects of the file other than the owner-
ship. The file times are preserved by default, but
two other flags are offered to disable these and
use the time of extraction.
The one path name per line format of standard input pre-
cludes path names containing newlines. Although such path
names violate the portable filename guidelines, they can
exist and their presence can inhibit usage of pax within
shell scripts. This problem is inherited from historical
archive programs. The problem can be avoided by listing file
name arguments on the command line instead of on standard
input.
It is almost certain that appropriate privileges are
required for pax to accomplish parts of this volume of IEEE
Std 1003.1-2001. Specifically, creating files of type block
special or character special, restoring file access times
unless the files are owned by the user (the -t option), or
preserving file owner, group, and mode (the -p option) all
probably require appropriate privileges.
In read mode, implementations are permitted to overwrite
files when the archive has multiple members with the same
name. This can fail if permissions on the first version of
the file do not permit it to be overwritten.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 25 Oct 2004 23
User Commands pax(1)
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of pax
when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2
**31 bytes).
Standard Input
In write mode, the standard input is used only if no file
operands are specified. It is a text file containing a list
of path names, one per line, without leading or trailing
blanks. In list and read modes, if -f is not specified, the
standard input is an archive file. Otherwise, the standard
input is not used.
Input Files
The input file named by the archive option-argument, or
standard input when the archive is read from there, is a
file formatted according to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, pax Shell
and Utilities. The file /dev/tty is used to write prompts
and read responses.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Copying the Contents of the Current Directory
The following command:
example% pax -w -f /dev/rmt/1m .
copies the contents of the current directory to tape drive
1, medium density. This assumes historical System V device
naming procedures. The historical BSD device name would be
/dev/rmt9.
Example 2: Copying the Directory Hierarchy
The following commands:
example% mkdir newdir
example% pax -rw olddir newdir
copy the olddir directory hierarchy to newdir.
Example 3: Reading an Archive Extracted Relative to the
Current Directory
The following command:
example% pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
reads the archive a.pax, with all files rooted in /usr in
the archive extracted relative to the current directory.
Example 4: Overriding the Default Output Description
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User Commands pax(1)
Using the option:
-o listopt="%M %(atime)T %(size)D %(name)s"
overrides the default output description in Standard Output
and instead writes:
-rw-rw- - - Jan 12 15:53 2003 1492 /usr/foo/bar
Using the options:
-o listopt='%L\t%(size)D\n%.7' \
-o listopt='(name)s\n%(atime)T\n%T'
overrides the default output description in standard output
and instead writes:
usr/foo/bar -> /tmp 1492
/usr/foo
Jan 12 15:53 1991
Jan 31 15:53 2003
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of pax: LANG, LC_ALL,
LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, LC_TIME, and NLSPATH.
LC_COLLATE Determine the locale for the behaviour of
ranges, equivalence classes, and multi-
character collating elements used in the
pattern matching expressions for the pattern
operand, the basic regular expression for
the -s option, and the extended regular
expression defined for the yesexpr locale
keyword in the LC_MESSAGES category.
TMPDIR Determine the path name that provides part
of the default global extended header record
file, as described for the -o globexthdr=
keyword as described in the OPTIONS section.
TZ Determine the timezone used to calculate
date and time strings when the -v option is
specified. If TZ is unset or null, an
unspecified default timezone is used.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 25 Oct 2004 25
User Commands pax(1)
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 All files were processed successfully.
>0 An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Standard |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
chmod(1), cpio(1), ed(1), printf(1), tar(1), mkdir(2),
stat(2), attributes(5), environ(5), fnmatch(5),
formats(5)fsattr(5), largefile(5), regex(5), standards(5)
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 25 Oct 2004 26
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