.\" partx.8 --
.\" Copyright 2007 Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>
.\" Copyright 2007 Red Hat, Inc.
.\" Copyright 2010 Davidlohr Bueso <dave@gnu.org>
.\" May be distributed under the GNU General Public License
.\"
.TH PARTX "8" "December 2014" "util-linux" "System Administration"
.SH NAME
partx \- tell the Linux kernel about the presence and numbering of on-disk partitions
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B partx
.RB [ \-a | \-d | \-s | \-u ]
.RB [ \-t " \fItype\fR]"
.RB [ \-n " \fIM" : \fIN\fR]
.RB [ \- "] " \fIdisk
.br
.B partx
.RB [ \-a | \-d | \-s | \-u ]
.RB [ \-t " \fItype\fR]"
.IR partition " [" disk ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
Given a device or disk-image,
.B partx
tries to parse the partition table and list its contents. It
optionally adds or removes partitions.
.PP
The
.I disk
argument is optional when a
.I partition
argument is provided. To force scanning a partition as if it were a whole disk
(for example to list nested subpartitions), use the argument "\-" (hyphen-minus). For example:
.RS 7
.TP
partx \-\-show \- /dev/sda3
.RE
.PP
This will see sda3 as a whole-disk rather than a partition.
.PP
The
.B partx is not an fdisk program
\(en adding and removing partitions does not change the disk, it just
tells the kernel about the presence and numbering of on-disk
partitions.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BR \-a , " \-\-add"
Add the specified partitions, or read the disk and add all partitions.
.TP
.BR \-b , " \-\-bytes"
Print the SIZE column in bytes rather than in human-readable format.
.TP
.BR \-d , " \-\-delete"
Delete the specified partitions or all partitions.
.TP
.BR \-g , " \-\-noheadings"
Do not print a header line.
.TP
.BR \-l , " \-\-list"
List the partitions. Note that all numbers are in 512-byte sectors.
This output format is DEPRECATED in favour of
.BR \-\-show .
Do not use it in newly written scripts.
.TP
.BR \-n , " \-\-nr " \fIM : \fIN
Specify the range of partitions. For backward compatibility also the
format \fIM\fB\-\fIN\fR is supported.
The range may contain negative numbers, for example
.B \-\-nr :\-1
means the last partition, and
.B \-\-nr \-2:\-1
means the last two partitions. Supported range specifications are:
.RS 14
.TP
.I M
Specifies just one partition (e.g.\& \fB\-\-nr 3\fR).
.TP
.IB M :
Specifies the lower limit only (e.g.\& \fB\-\-nr 2:\fR).
.TP
.BI : N
Specifies the upper limit only (e.g.\& \fB\-\-nr :4\fR).
.TP
.IB M : N
Specifies the lower and upper limits (e.g.\& \fB\-\-nr 2:4\fR).
.RE
.TP
.BR \-o , " \-\-output " \fIlist
Define the output columns to use for
.B \-\-show
and
.B \-\-raw
output. If no output arrangement is specified, then a default set is
used. Use
.B \-\-help
to get
.I list
of all supported columns. This option cannot be combined with the
.BR \-\-add ,
.BR \-\-delete ,
or
.B \-\-list
options.
.TP
.BR \-P , " \-\-pairs"
Output using key="value" format.
.TP
.BR \-r , " \-\-raw"
Use the raw output format.
.TP
.BR \-s , "\-\-show"
List the partitions. All numbers (except SIZE) are in 512-byte sectors.
The output columns can be rearranged with the \fB\-\-output\fR option.
.TP
.BR \-t , " \-\-type " \fItype
Specify the partition table type, which can be one of
.BR aix ,
.BR bsd ,
.BR dos ,
.BR gpt ,
.BR mac ,
.BR minix ,
.BR sgi ,
.BR solaris_x86 ,
.BR sun ,
.BR ultrix ,
or
.BR unixware .
.TP
.BR \-u , " \-\-update"
Update the specified partitions.
.TP
.BR \-v , " \-\-verbose"
Verbose mode.
.TP
.BR \-V , " \-\-version"
Display version information and exit.
.TP
.BR \-h , " \-\-help"
Display help text and exit.
.SH EXAMPLES
.TP
partx \-\-show /dev/sdb3
.TQ
partx \-\-show \-\-nr 3 /dev/sdb
.TQ
partx \-\-show /dev/sdb3 /dev/sdb
All three commands list partition 3 of /dev/sdb.
.TP
partx \-\-show \- /dev/sdb3
Lists all subpartitions on /dev/sdb3 (the device is used as
whole-disk).
.TP
partx \-o START \-g \-\-nr 5 /dev/sdb
Prints the start sector of partition 5 on /dev/sdb without header.
.TP
partx \-o SECTORS,SIZE /dev/sda5 /dev/sda
Lists the length in sectors and human-readable size of partition 5 on
/dev/sda.
.TP
partx \-\-add \-\-nr 3:5 /dev/sdd
Adds all available partitions from 3 to 5 (inclusive) on /dev/sdd.
.TP
partx \-d \-\-nr :\-1 /dev/sdd
Removes the last partition on /dev/sdd.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR addpart (8),
.BR delpart (8),
.BR fdisk (8),
.BR parted (8),
.BR partprobe (8)
.SH AUTHORS
.MT dave@gnu.org
Davidlohr Bueso
.ME
.br
.MT kzak@redhat.com
Karel Zak
.ME
.PP
The original version was written by
.MT aeb@cwi.nl
Andries E.\& Brouwer
.ME .
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.IP LIBBLKID_DEBUG=all
enables libblkid debug output.
.SH AVAILABILITY
The partx command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
.UR ftp://\:ftp.kernel.org\:/pub\:/linux\:/utils\:/util-linux/
Linux Kernel Archive
.UE .
