.\" 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 "28 Oct 2010"
.SH NAME
partx \-
tell the linux kernel about presence and numbering of on-disk partitions.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B partx
.RB [ \-a | \-d | \-s ]
.RB [ \-t
.IR TYPE ]
.RB [ \-n
.IR M:N ]
.RI [ \- ]
.I disk

.B partx
.RB [ \-a | \-d | \-s ]
.RB [ \-t
.IR TYPE ]
.I partition
.RI [ disk ]

.SH DESCRIPTION
Given a device or disk-image, try to parse the partition table, and list the
contents. Optionally add or remove partitions.

The
.I disk
argument is optional when a 
.I partition 
argument is provided. It's possible to force scanning on partition (for example
to list nested subpartitions), then the string "-" has to be used, for example:

.RS
.br
.B partx \-\-show \- /dev/sda3
.RE

This will use sda3 as a whole-disk rather than a partition.

.B This is not an fdisk
\- adding and removing partitions
is not a change of the disk, but just telling the kernel
about presence and numbering of on-disk partitions.

.SH OPTIONS
.IP "\fB\-a, \-\-add\fP"
add specified partitions or read disk and add all partitions
.IP "\fB\-b, \-\-bytes\fP"
Print the SIZE column in bytes rather than in human readable format.
.IP "\fB\-d, \-\-delete\fP"
delete specified or all partitions
.IP "\fB\-l, \-\-list\fP"
list partitions. Note that the all numbers are in 512-byte sectors. This output
format is DEPRECATED in favour of \fB\-\-show\fP. Don't use it in newly written
scripts.
.IP "\fB\-g, \-\-noheadings\fP"
Do not print a header line.
.IP "\fB\-o, \-\-output \fIlist\fP"
Define output columns for \fB\-\-show\fP and  \fB\-\-raw\fP output. If output format is
not specified then \fB\-\-show\fP is enable by default. Use \fB\-\-help\fP to 
get list of all supported columns.
.IP "\fB\-r, \-\-raw\fP"
Use raw output format.
.IP "\fB\-s, \-\-show\fP"
list partitions. All numbers (except SIZE) are in 512-byte sectors. The output
columns could be (re)defined by \fB\-\-output\fP option.
.IP "\fB\-t, \-\-type \fItype\fP"
Specify the partition table type -- dos, bsd, solaris, unixware or gpt.
.IP "\fB\-n, \-\-nr \fIM:N\fP"
Specify the range of partitions. For backward compatibility is also supported
range definition in <M-N> format. The range could be specified by negative 
numbers, for example "--nr :-1" means last partition, and "--nr -2:-1" means 
last two partition. Supported range specifications:
.RS
.TP
.B <M>
Specify only one partition (e.g. --nr 3).
.TP
.B <M:>
Specify lower limit only (e.g. --nr 2:).
.TP
.B <:N>
Specify upper limit only (e.g. --nr :4).
.TP
.B <M:N>
or
.B <M-N>
Specify lower and upper limits (e.g. --nr 2:4).
.RE
.SH EXAMPLES
.IP "\fBpartx \-\-show /dev/sdb3\fP"
.IP "\fBpartx \-\-show --nr 3 /dev/sdb\fP"
.IP "\fBpartx \-\-show /dev/sdb3 /dev/sdb\fP"
List partition 3 of /dev/sdb.
.IP "\fBpartx \-\-show \- /dev/sdb3\fP"
List all subpartitions on /dev/sdb3 (the device is used as whole-disk).
.IP "\fBpartx \-o START -g --nr 3 /dev/sdb\fP"
Print the start sector of partition 5 on /dev/sda without header.
.IP "\fBpartx \-o SECTORS,SIZE /dev/sda5 /dev/sda\fP"
List the length in sectors and human readable size of partition 5 on /dev/sda.
.IP "\fBpartx \-\-add --nr 3:5 /dev/sdd\fP"
Add all available partitions from 3 to 5 (inclusive) on /dev/sdd.
.IP "\fBpartx \-d --nr :-1 /dev/sdd\fP"
Removes 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
.nf
Davidlohr Bueso <dave@gnu.org>
Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>
.fi

The original version was written by Andries E. Brouwer <aeb@cwi.nl>.
.SH AVAILABILITY
The partx command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.