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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.*
or ;
is ignored.ar
command, you can separate the individual names with either commas or blanks. Commas are shown in the explanations below, for clarity.+
is used as a line continuation character; if +
appears at the end of a line, the text on the following line is considered part of the current command.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
archiveADDLIB
archive (
module,
module, ...
module)
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
ADDMOD
member,
member, ...
memberRequires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
CLEAR
SAVE
. May be executed (with no effect) even if no current archive is specified.CREATE
archiveSAVE
. You can overwrite existing archives; similarly, the contents of any existing file named archive will not be destroyed until SAVE
.DELETE
module,
module, ...
modulear -d
archive module ...
module.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
DIRECTORY
archive (
module, ...
module)
DIRECTORY
archive (
module, ...
module)
outputfileVERBOSE
specifies the form of the output: when verbose output is off, output is like that of ar -t
archivemodule...
. 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
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, ...
modulear -x
archive module...
.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.
LIST
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
archiveSAVE
.REPLACE
module,
module, ...
moduleREPLACE
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
DIRECTORY
. When the flag is on, DIRECTORY
output matches output from ar -tv
....SAVE
CREATE
or OPEN
command.
Requires prior use of OPEN
or CREATE
.