The ar86 command requires that the operation to be performed on the archive be specified as the first
option. If the operation is positional then the next option is the archive member marking the position.
This is followed by the archive file name and any list of file names.
Operations
One of the following operations can be specified
ddelete the listed files from the archive.
mmove the named files. By default files are moved to the end of the archive unless a positional
modifier is present.
pprint the contents of archive members to standard out. If a file list is included only those
members are printed. If the v modifier is present each file's contents are preceded by a new line,
a line with the string member, a space character, the member name, and two following newlines.
qquickly add the files to the end of the archive without checking to see if they already exist in
the archive. This operation will ignore any positional modifiers. Creates the archive file if it
does not exist.
rreplace archive members with the files listed. If the file name is not present in the archive it
is added to the end of the archive (or to any explicitly specified position). Creates the archive
file if it does not exist.
ttable; list the file names of archive members. If a file list is present only those files that are
present in the archive are listed. The v modifier prints member attributes.
xextract the named files from the archive into the current directory. If no files are specified all
the archive members will be extracted.
Modifiers
The following modifiers may be used with the operations
ooriginal time stamps from the archive are preserved for extracted files when possible.
ssymbol update; this option may be used by itself to force an update to the symbol definition
section of the archive (the __.SYMDEF member). If any files are specified they will be replaced as
if the r operation had been specified. If no symbol definition section exists one is created. This
option will also creates the archive file if it does not exist.
uupdate files in the archive during a r (replace) operation. The files are added to the archive in
exactly the same manner as replace except that an existing archive member will be retained (in its
original position) if it has a modified more recently than the file being added. Note that this
modifier acts as if a r operation has been specified (even it has not), and will actually override
any other previously specified operation.
vverbose; print additional diagnostic messages while processing the archive.
PositionalModifiers
The following modifiers specify where in the archive files are moved to or added. If any of these
modifiers are specified then the second option to ar86 must be the name of an archive member.
aafter; files are placed after the specified archive member.
bbefore; files are placed before the specified archive member.
i same as b.