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A copy of the license is included in the 10section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". 11 --> 12<!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 5.1, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ --> 13<head> 14<title>GNU Binary Utilities: ar scripts</title> 15 16<meta name="description" content="GNU Binary Utilities: ar scripts"> 17<meta name="keywords" content="GNU Binary Utilities: ar scripts"> 18<meta name="resource-type" content="document"> 19<meta name="distribution" content="global"> 20<meta name="Generator" content="makeinfo"> 21<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> 22<link href="index.html#Top" rel="start" title="Top"> 23<link href="Binutils-Index.html#Binutils-Index" rel="index" title="Binutils Index"> 24<link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"> 25<link href="ar.html#ar" rel="up" title="ar"> 26<link href="nm.html#nm" rel="next" title="nm"> 27<link href="ar-cmdline.html#ar-cmdline" rel="previous" title="ar cmdline"> 28<style type="text/css"> 29<!-- 30a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} 31blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} 32div.display {margin-left: 3.2em} 33div.example {margin-left: 3.2em} 34div.indentedblock {margin-left: 3.2em} 35div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em} 36div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em} 37div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em} 38div.smallindentedblock {margin-left: 3.2em; font-size: smaller} 39div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em} 40kbd {font-style:oblique} 41pre.display {font-family: inherit} 42pre.format {font-family: inherit} 43pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} 44pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} 45pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} 46pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} 47pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} 48pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} 49span.nocodebreak {white-space:nowrap} 50span.nolinebreak {white-space:nowrap} 51span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal} 52span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal} 53ul.no-bullet {list-style: none} 54--> 55</style> 56 57 58</head> 59 60<body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> 61<a name="ar-scripts"></a> 62<div class="header"> 63<p> 64Previous: <a href="ar-cmdline.html#ar-cmdline" accesskey="p" rel="previous">ar cmdline</a>, Up: <a href="ar.html#ar" accesskey="u" rel="up">ar</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Binutils-Index.html#Binutils-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> 65</div> 66<hr> 67<a name="Controlling-ar-with-a-Script"></a> 68<h3 class="section">1.2 Controlling <code>ar</code> with a Script</h3> 69 70<div class="smallexample"> 71<pre class="smallexample">ar -M [ <<var>script</var> ] 72</pre></div> 73 74<a name="index-MRI-compatibility_002c-ar"></a> 75<a name="index-scripts_002c-ar"></a> 76<p>If you use the single command-line option ‘<samp>-M</samp>’ with <code>ar</code>, you 77can control its operation with a rudimentary command language. This 78form of <code>ar</code> operates interactively if standard input is coming 79directly from a terminal. During interactive use, <code>ar</code> prompts for 80input (the prompt is ‘<samp>AR ></samp>’), and continues executing even after 81errors. If you redirect standard input to a script file, no prompts are 82issued, and <code>ar</code> abandons execution (with a nonzero exit code) 83on any error. 84</p> 85<p>The <code>ar</code> command language is <em>not</em> designed to be equivalent 86to the command-line options; in fact, it provides somewhat less control 87over archives. The only purpose of the command language is to ease the 88transition to <small>GNU</small> <code>ar</code> for developers who already have scripts 89written for the MRI “librarian” program. 90</p> 91<p>The syntax for the <code>ar</code> command language is straightforward: 92</p><ul> 93<li> commands are recognized in upper or lower case; for example, <code>LIST</code> 94is the same as <code>list</code>. In the following descriptions, commands are 95shown in upper case for clarity. 96 97</li><li> a single command may appear on each line; it is the first word on the 98line. 99 100</li><li> empty lines are allowed, and have no effect. 101 102</li><li> comments are allowed; text after either of the characters ‘<samp>*</samp>’ 103or ‘<samp>;</samp>’ is ignored. 104 105</li><li> Whenever you use a list of names as part of the argument to an <code>ar</code> 106command, you can separate the individual names with either commas or 107blanks. Commas are shown in the explanations below, for clarity. 108 109</li><li> ‘<samp>+</samp>’ is used as a line continuation character; if ‘<samp>+</samp>’ appears 110at the end of a line, the text on the following line is considered part 111of the current command. 112</li></ul> 113 114<p>Here are the commands you can use in <code>ar</code> scripts, or when using 115<code>ar</code> interactively. Three of them have special significance: 116</p> 117<p><code>OPEN</code> or <code>CREATE</code> specify a <em>current archive</em>, which is 118a temporary file required for most of the other commands. 119</p> 120<p><code>SAVE</code> commits the changes so far specified by the script. Prior 121to <code>SAVE</code>, commands affect only the temporary copy of the current 122archive. 123</p> 124<dl compact="compact"> 125<dt><code>ADDLIB <var>archive</var></code></dt> 126<dt><code>ADDLIB <var>archive</var> (<var>module</var>, <var>module</var>, … <var>module</var>)</code></dt> 127<dd><p>Add all the contents of <var>archive</var> (or, if specified, each named 128<var>module</var> from <var>archive</var>) to the current archive. 129</p> 130<p>Requires prior use of <code>OPEN</code> or <code>CREATE</code>. 131</p> 132</dd> 133<dt><code>ADDMOD <var>member</var>, <var>member</var>, … <var>member</var></code></dt> 134<dd><p>Add each named <var>member</var> as a module in the current archive. 135</p> 136<p>Requires prior use of <code>OPEN</code> or <code>CREATE</code>. 137</p> 138</dd> 139<dt><code>CLEAR</code></dt> 140<dd><p>Discard the contents of the current archive, canceling the effect of 141any operations since the last <code>SAVE</code>. May be executed (with no 142effect) even if no current archive is specified. 143</p> 144</dd> 145<dt><code>CREATE <var>archive</var></code></dt> 146<dd><p>Creates an archive, and makes it the current archive (required for many 147other commands). The new archive is created with a temporary name; it 148is not actually saved as <var>archive</var> until you use <code>SAVE</code>. 149You can overwrite existing archives; similarly, the contents of any 150existing file named <var>archive</var> will not be destroyed until <code>SAVE</code>. 151</p> 152</dd> 153<dt><code>DELETE <var>module</var>, <var>module</var>, … <var>module</var></code></dt> 154<dd><p>Delete each listed <var>module</var> from the current archive; equivalent to 155‘<samp>ar -d <var>archive</var> <var>module</var> … <var>module</var></samp>’. 156</p> 157<p>Requires prior use of <code>OPEN</code> or <code>CREATE</code>. 158</p> 159</dd> 160<dt><code>DIRECTORY <var>archive</var> (<var>module</var>, … <var>module</var>)</code></dt> 161<dt><code>DIRECTORY <var>archive</var> (<var>module</var>, … <var>module</var>) <var>outputfile</var></code></dt> 162<dd><p>List each named <var>module</var> present in <var>archive</var>. The separate 163command <code>VERBOSE</code> specifies the form of the output: when verbose 164output is off, output is like that of ‘<samp>ar -t <var>archive</var> 165<var>module</var>…</samp>’. When verbose output is on, the listing is like 166‘<samp>ar -tv <var>archive</var> <var>module</var>…</samp>’. 167</p> 168<p>Output normally goes to the standard output stream; however, if you 169specify <var>outputfile</var> as a final argument, <code>ar</code> directs the 170output to that file. 171</p> 172</dd> 173<dt><code>END</code></dt> 174<dd><p>Exit from <code>ar</code>, with a <code>0</code> exit code to indicate successful 175completion. This command does not save the output file; if you have 176changed the current archive since the last <code>SAVE</code> command, those 177changes are lost. 178</p> 179</dd> 180<dt><code>EXTRACT <var>module</var>, <var>module</var>, … <var>module</var></code></dt> 181<dd><p>Extract each named <var>module</var> from the current archive, writing them 182into the current directory as separate files. Equivalent to ‘<samp>ar -x 183<var>archive</var> <var>module</var>…</samp>’. 184</p> 185<p>Requires prior use of <code>OPEN</code> or <code>CREATE</code>. 186</p> 187 188</dd> 189<dt><code>LIST</code></dt> 190<dd><p>Display full contents of the current archive, in “verbose” style 191regardless of the state of <code>VERBOSE</code>. The effect is like ‘<samp>ar 192tv <var>archive</var></samp>’. (This single command is a <small>GNU</small> <code>ar</code> 193enhancement, rather than present for MRI compatibility.) 194</p> 195<p>Requires prior use of <code>OPEN</code> or <code>CREATE</code>. 196</p> 197</dd> 198<dt><code>OPEN <var>archive</var></code></dt> 199<dd><p>Opens an existing archive for use as the current archive (required for 200many other commands). Any changes as the result of subsequent commands 201will not actually affect <var>archive</var> until you next use <code>SAVE</code>. 202</p> 203</dd> 204<dt><code>REPLACE <var>module</var>, <var>module</var>, … <var>module</var></code></dt> 205<dd><p>In the current archive, replace each existing <var>module</var> (named in 206the <code>REPLACE</code> arguments) from files in the current working directory. 207To execute this command without errors, both the file, and the module in 208the current archive, must exist. 209</p> 210<p>Requires prior use of <code>OPEN</code> or <code>CREATE</code>. 211</p> 212</dd> 213<dt><code>VERBOSE</code></dt> 214<dd><p>Toggle an internal flag governing the output from <code>DIRECTORY</code>. 215When the flag is on, <code>DIRECTORY</code> output matches output from 216‘<samp>ar -tv </samp>’…. 217</p> 218</dd> 219<dt><code>SAVE</code></dt> 220<dd><p>Commit your changes to the current archive, and actually save it as a 221file with the name specified in the last <code>CREATE</code> or <code>OPEN</code> 222command. 223</p> 224<p>Requires prior use of <code>OPEN</code> or <code>CREATE</code>. 225</p> 226</dd> 227</dl> 228 229 230<hr> 231<div class="header"> 232<p> 233Previous: <a href="ar-cmdline.html#ar-cmdline" accesskey="p" rel="previous">ar cmdline</a>, Up: <a href="ar.html#ar" accesskey="u" rel="up">ar</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Binutils-Index.html#Binutils-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> 234</div> 235 236 237 238</body> 239</html> 240