The ar command in Linux is used to create, modify, and extract files from archive files in the “old-fashioned” Unix .a format. These archive files are similar to Zip files in that they contain multiple files that have been compressed and bundled together into a single file, but the format is slightly different and is intended for use with static libraries in C and C++ programs.

Here are some examples of using the ar command:

• To create an archive file called libexample.a containing the object files file1.o, file2.o, and file3.o, you would use the following command:
  ar rcs libexample.a file1.o file2.o file3.o The option rcs is an abbreviation for the options: -r, -c, -s
  • r specifies that the files should be added to the archive file
  • c specifies that the archive file should be created if it doesn’t exist
  • s specifies that the index table of contents should be updated
• To extract the contents of an archive file called libexample.a into the current directory, you would use the following command:
  ar x libexample.a
  • x option extract the files from the archive
• To list the contents of an archive file called libexample.a, you would use the following command:
  ar t libexample.a
  • t option list the contents of the archive
• To delete file2.o from libexample.a, you would use the following command:
  ar d libexample.a file2.o
  • d option deletes specified files from the archive

These are just a few examples of the things you can do with the ar command. There are many other options and variations you can use depending on your needs.

Note: archive file are also used for versioning of files, mostly for C and C++ projects, but also for other languages that support static libraries.

Other Linux Commands

1. admin Command
2. alias Command
3. apt Command
4. ar Command
5. asa Command
6. at Command
7. awk Command
8. basename Command
9. bash Command
10. batch Command
11. bc Command
12. bg Command
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14. c99 Command
15. cal Command
16. cat Command
17. cd Command
18. cflow Command
19. chgrp Command
20. chmod Command
21. chown Command
22. chroot Command
23. cksum Command
24. clear Command
25. cmp Command
26. comm Command
27. command Command
28. compress Command
29. continue Command
30. cp Command
31. crontab Command
32. csplit Command
33. ctags Command
34. cut Command
35. cxref Command
36. datamash Command
37. date Command
38. dc Command
39. dd Command
40. delta Command
41. df Command
42. diff Command
43. dir Command
44. dirname Command
45. dot Command
46. du Command
47. echo Command
48. ed Command
49. env Command
50. eval Command
51. ex Command
52. exec Command
53. exit Command
54. expand Command
55. export Command
56. expr Command
57. false Command
58. fc Command
59. fg Command
60. file Command
61. find Command
62. flex Command
63. fold Command
64. fort77 Command
65. fortune Command
66. ftp Command
67. fuser Command
68. gawk Command
69. gencat Command
70. get Command
71. getconf Command
72. getopts Command
73. grep Command
74. groupadd Command
75. groupdel Command
76. groups Command
77. hash Command
78. head Command
79. history Command
80. hostname Command
81. htop Command
82. iconv Command
83. id Command
84. iostat Command
85. ipcrm Command
86. ipcs Command
87. jobs Command
88. join Command
89. kill Command
90. last Command
91. less Command
92. lex Command
93. link Command
94. ln Command
95. locale Command
96. localedef Command
97. locate Command
98. logger Command
99. login Command
100. logname Command
101. logout Command
102. lp Command
103. ls Command
104. m4 Command
105. mailx Command
106. make Command
107. man Command
108. mesg Command
109. mkdir Command
110. mkfifo Command
111. mktemp Command
112. more Command
113. mount Command
114. mtail Command
115. mv Command
116. nano Command
117. netstat Command
118. newgrp Command
119. nice Command
120. nl Command
121. nm Command
122. nohup Command
123. od Command
124. parallel Command
125. passwd Command
126. paste Command
127. patch Command
128. pathchk Command
129. pax Command
130. pgrep Command
131. ping Command
132. pkill Command
133. pr Command
134. print Command
135. printf Command
136. prs Command
137. ps Command
138. pstree Command
139. pwd Command
140. qalter Command
141. qdel Command
142. qhold Command
143. qmove Command
144. qmsg Command
145. qrerun Command
146. qrls Command
147. qselect Command
148. qsig Command
149. qstat Command
150. qsub Command
151. read Command
152. readlink Command
153. readonly Command
154. renice Command
155. return Command
156. rm Command
157. rmdel Command
158. rmdir Command
159. rsync Command
160. sact Command
161. sar Command
162. sccs Command
163. sed Command
164. seq Command
165. set Command
166. sh Command
167. shift Command
168. shopt Command
169. sleep Command
170. sort Command
171. split Command
172. ss Command
173. stress Command
174. strings Command
175. strip Command
176. stty Command
177. suspend Command
178. tabs Command
179. tail Command
180. talk Command
181. tee Command
182. test Command
183. time Command
184. times Command
185. top Command
186. touch Command
187. tput Command
188. tr Command
189. traceroute Command
190. trap Command
191. true Command
192. ts Command
193. tsort Command
194. tty Command
195. type Command
196. ulimit Command
197. umask Command
198. umount Command
199. unalias Command
200. uname Command
201. uncompress Command
202. unexpand Command
203. unget Command
204. uniq Command
205. unlink Command
206. unset Command
207. unzip Command
208. uptime Command
209. useradd Command
210. userdel Command
211. uucp Command
212. uudecode Command
213. uuencode Command
214. uustat Command
215. uux Command
216. val Command
217. vi Command
218. w Command
219. wait Command
220. wc Command
221. what Command
222. whereis Command
223. which Command
224. who Command
225. write Command
226. xargs Command
227. yacc Command
228. zcat Command
229. zip Command
230. Linux Commands and Examples