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ar
with a Scriptar -M [ <script ]
If you use the single command-line option -M with ar
, you can control its operation with a rudimentary command language. This form of ar
operates interactively if standard input is coming directly from a terminal. During interactive use, ar
prompts for input (the prompt is AR >), and continues executing even after errors. If you redirect standard input to a script file, no prompts are issued, and ar
abandons execution (with a nonzero exit code) on any error.
The ar
command language is not designed to be equivalent to the command-line options; in fact, it provides somewhat less control over archives. The only purpose of the command language is to ease the transition to GNU ar
for developers who already have scripts written for the MRI librarian program.
The syntax for the ar
command language is straightforward:
LIST
is the same as list
. In the following descriptions, commands are shown in upper case for clarity.ar
command, you can separate the individual names with either commas or blanks. Commas are shown in the explanations below, for clarity.Here are the commands you can use in ar
scripts, or when using ar
interactively. Three of them have special significance:
OPEN
or CREATE
specify a current archive, which is a temporary file required for most of the other commands.
SAVE
commits the changes so far specified by the script. Prior to SAVE
, commands affect only the temporary copy of the current archive.
ADDLIB archive
ADDLIB archive (module, module, module)
Add all the contents of archive (or, if specified, each named module from archive) to the current archive.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
ADDMOD member, member, member
Add each named member as a module in the current archive.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
CLEAR
Discard the contents of the current archive, canceling the effect of any operations since the last SAVE
. May be executed (with no effect) even if no current archive is specified.
CREATE archive
Creates an archive, and makes it the current archive (required for many other commands). The new archive is created with a temporary name; it is not actually saved as archive until you use SAVE
. You can overwrite existing archives; similarly, the contents of any existing file named archive will not be destroyed until SAVE
.
DELETE module, module, module
Delete each listed module from the current archive; equivalent to ar -d archive module module.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
DIRECTORY archive (module, module)
DIRECTORY archive (module, module) outputfile
List each named module present in archive. The separate command VERBOSE
specifies the form of the output: when verbose output is off, output is like that of ar -t archive module. When verbose output is on, the listing is like ar -tv archive module.
Output normally goes to the standard output stream; however, if you specify outputfile as a final argument, ar
directs the output to that file.
END
Exit from ar
, with a 0
exit code to indicate successful completion. This command does not save the output file; if you have changed the current archive since the last SAVE
command, those changes are lost.
EXTRACT module, module, module
Extract each named module from the current archive, writing them into the current directory as separate files. Equivalent to ar -x archive module.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
LIST
Display full contents of the current archive, in verbose style regardless of the state of VERBOSE
. The effect is like ar tv archive. (This single command is a GNU ar
enhancement, rather than present for MRI compatibility.)
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
OPEN archive
Opens an existing archive for use as the current archive (required for many other commands). Any changes as the result of subsequent commands will not actually affect archive until you next use SAVE
.
REPLACE module, module, module
In the current archive, replace each existing module (named in the REPLACE
arguments) from files in the current working directory. To execute this command without errors, both the file, and the module in the current archive, must exist.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
VERBOSE
Toggle an internal flag governing the output from DIRECTORY
. When the flag is on, DIRECTORY
output matches output from ar -tv .
SAVE
Commit your changes to the current archive, and actually save it as a file with the name specified in the last CREATE
or OPEN
command.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
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