atool
Manage archives in various formats with a unified interface
TLDR
Extract an archive (auto-detects format)
$ atool -x [archive.tar.gz]
List archive contentscopy
$ atool -l [archive.zip]
Create an archive from files or directoriescopy
$ atool -a [output.tar.gz] [file1] [file2]
Extract into a specific directorycopy
$ atool -X [/path/to/dir] [archive.zip]
Extract each archive in the current directorycopy
$ atool -e -x *.zip
Print a file from an archive to standard outputcopy
$ atool -c [archive.tar.gz] [path/inside/archive]
Show the diff between two archivescopy
$ atool -d [old.tar.gz] [new.tar.gz]
copy
SYNOPSIS
atool [-lxacdX] [options] archive [files...]
PARAMETERS
-l, --list
List the contents of an archive.-x, --extract
Extract files from an archive. By default a unique subdirectory is created if the archive is not already tidy.-X PATH, --extract-to=PATH
Extract the archive into the given directory.-a, --add
Create a new archive from the supplied files. The archive format is inferred from the output file's extension.-c, --cat
Extract a single file from the archive to standard output.-d, --diff
Extract two archives and run diff(1) on their contents.-e, --each
Perform the requested action on each of the remaining arguments individually (useful for batch extraction).-F EXT, --format=EXT
Override automatic format detection.-O OPT, --format-option=OPT
Pass an extra option to the underlying archiver (for example `-O-mx=9` to set 7z compression level).-D, --subdir
Always create a subdirectory when extracting, even if the archive already contains a top-level directory.-f, --force
Overwrite existing files or archives without asking.-S, --simulate
Show what would be done without modifying the filesystem.-E, --explain
Print the underlying commands that atool runs.-p, --page
Pipe output through a pager.-q, --quiet
Decrease verbosity.-v, --verbose
Increase verbosity.-o KEY=VAL, --option=KEY=VAL
Override a configuration setting on the command line.--config=FILE
Load a non-default configuration file.
CONFIGURATION
~/.atoolrc
Per-user configuration file that sets defaults and format preferences./etc/atoolrc
System-wide configuration file.
RELATED COMMANDS
aunpack archive
Shortcut for `atool -x`; also cleans up if the archive is untidy.apack archive files...
Shortcut for `atool -a`.als archive
Shortcut for `atool -l`.acat archive file
Shortcut for `atool -c`.adiff archive1 archive2
Shortcut for `atool -d`.arepack old new
Convert one archive format to another in a single step.
SUPPORTED FORMATS
- tar (plain, gzip, bzip2, xz, lzma, zstd, compress)- zip, jar, war- rar, 7z, lzh, arj, arc- ar, cpio, shar- deb, rpm (for listing/extraction via backend tools)
CAVEATS
Requires the appropriate backend tools to be installed (tar, unzip, unrar, 7z, zstd, ...); atool only orchestrates them. Archive format detection is primarily based on file extension, so -F may be needed when extensions are missing or misleading.
HISTORY
atool is written in Perl by Oskar Liljeblad and is distributed by the GNU project (nongnu.org/atool). It was created to provide a unified front end for the large number of archive formats found on Unix systems.