--- name: "patool" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "patool" version: "4.0.0-1+deb13u1" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/patool" --- # patool(1) portable archive file manager for the command line ## NAME patool - portable archive file manager for the command line ## SYNOPSIS **patool** \[*global-options*\] (**list**\|**test**\|**extract**\|**create**\|**diff**\|**search**\|**repack**\|**formats**\|**version**) \[*command-options*\] \[*command-arguments*\]... ## DESCRIPTION Various archive formats can be created, extracted, tested, listed, searched, repacked and compared 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)](/file/1.md) program and as a fallback by the archive file extension. **patool** supports 7z (.7z, .cb7), ACE (.ace, .cba), ADF (.adf), ALZIP (.alz), APE (.ape), AR (.a), ARC (.arc), ARJ (.arj), BZIP2 (.bz2), BZIP3 (.bz3), CAB (.cab), CHM (.chm), COMPRESS (.Z), CPIO (.cpio), DEB (.deb), DMS (.dms), FLAC (.flac), GZIP (.gz), ISO (.iso), LRZIP (.lrz), LZH (.lha, .lzh), LZIP (.lz), LZMA (.lzma), LZOP (.lzo), RPM (.rpm), RAR (.rar, .cbr), RZIP (.rz), SHN (.shn), TAR (.tar, .cbt), UDF (.udf), XZ (.xz), ZIP (.zip, .jar, .cbz), ZOO (.zoo), ZPAQ (.zpaq) and ZSTANDARD (.zst) archive formats.\ It relies on helper applications to handle those archive formats (for example **xz** for XZ (.xz) archives). The archive formats BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, XZ and ZIP are supported natively and do not require helper applications to be installed. ## EXAMPLES **patool extract archive.zip otherarchive.rar**\ **patool --verbose test dist.tar.gz**\ **patool list package.deb**\ **patool --verbose create myfiles.zip file1.txt dir/**\ **patool diff release1.0.tar.xz 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** ## GLOBAL OPTIONS - **-v**, **--verbose** Display more info about what patool does, and display the output of helper applications. Can be given multiple times to increase the output even more. - **-q**, **--quiet** Work quietly, exept on commands **formats** and **version**, which still print their output. Conflicts with **--verbose**. If given twice suppresses error output from archive commands. - **--non-interactive** Try to prevent any interactive user input (i.e. prompting for passwords or for overwriting duplicate files). Use this option with care since overwriting files or ignoring password prompts could lead to unintended consequences.\ This only works for programs that allow preventing user prompts. Currently those are **arj**, **7z** and **rar**. ## COMMANDS The following rules apply to all commands: - • Existing files are never overwritten. - • The original archive will never be removed. - • Files outside the output directory will never be created. This relies on archive program options to prevent unpacking of files with an absolute path name (e.g. **--no-absolute-filenames** for **[cpio(1)](/cpio/1.md)**). The following commands are available. ### extract **patool** **extract** \[**--outdir** *directory*\] \<*archive*\>... Extract files from given archives. The original archives will never be removed and are left as is. - **--outdir** *directory* Extract to the given output directory. Default is to extract to the current working directory. If the archive contains exactly one file or directory, the archive contents are extracted directly to the output directory. Else the files are extracted in a newly created subdirectory of the output directory. The new directory is named after the archive filename without the extension.\ This prevents cluttering the output directory with a lot of files from the extracted archive. All extracted files are ensured that they are readable by the current user. If extracting an archive has an error in the middle of operation, patool does not remove the temporary extraction directory This directory whose name starts with "Unpack\_" has all files that have been extracted before the error. ### list **patool** **list** \<*archive*\>... List files in archives. ### create **patool** **create** \<*archive*\> \<*file-or-directory*\>... Create an archive from given files. All of the given files to add to the archive must be readable by the current user. The format of the archive to create is determined by the archive file extension. If the archive program has options to maximize file compression, **patool** uses those options. ### test **patool** **test** \<*archive*\>... Test the given archives. If the helper application does not support testing, the archive contents are listed instead. ### diff **patool** **diff** \<*archive1*\> \<*archive2*\> Show differences between two archives with the **[diff(1)](/diff/1.md)** program. The diff options used are **-urN**. ### search **patool** **search** \<*pattern*\> \<*archive*\> Unpack the given archive in a temporary directory and search in archive contents for given pattern using the **[grep(1)](/grep/1.md)** program. The grep options used are **-r**; additional options can be supplied with the **GREP\_OPTIONS** environment variable. ### repack **patool** **repack** \<*archive*\> \<*archive\_new*\> Extract and re-compress archive to a different format. The target archive format is determined by the file extension of *archive\_new*. ### formats **patool** **formats** Show all supported archive formats (i.e. which helper applications are available). ### version **patool** **version** Print version information. ## 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 ## SHELL ALIASES When running under a Unix shell the following aliases can be defined to save some typing:\ **alias pl='patool list'**\ **alias px='patool extract'**\ **alias pc='patool create'**\ **alias pd='patool diff'** ## AUTHOR Bastian Kleineidam \ ## COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2010-2024 Bastian Kleineidam