| PAX ( 1 ) | USER COMMANDS | PAX ( 1 ) |
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pax -w writes the files and directories named by the pathname arguments to the standard output together with pathname and status information. A directory pathname argument refers to the files and (recursively) subdirectories of that directory. If no pathname arguments are given then the standard input is read to get a list of pathnames to copy, one pathname per line. In this case only those pathnames appearing on the standard input are copied.
pax -r reads the standard input that is assumed to be the result of a previous pax -w command. Only member files with names that match any of the pattern arguments are selected.
Matching is done before any -i or -s options are applied. A pattern is given in the name-generating notation of
pax -rw reads the files and directories named in the pathname arguments and copies them to the destination directory. A directory pathname argument refers to the files and (recursively) subdirectories of that directory. If no pathname arguments are given then the standard input is read to get a list of pathnames to copy, one pathname per l, lineine. In this case only those pathnames appearing on the standard input are copied. directory must exist before the copy.
pax (-r and -w omitted) reads the standard input that is assumed to be the result of a previous pax -w command and lists table of contents of the selected member files on the standard output.
The standard archive formats and compression methods are automatically detected on input. The default output archive format is pax, but may be overridden by the -x option described below. pax archives may be concatenated to combine multiple volumes on a single tape or file. This is accomplished by forcing any format prescribed pad data to be null bytes. Hard links are not maintained between volumes, and delta and base archives cannot be multi-volume.
A single archive may span many files/devices. The second and subsequent file names are prompted for on the terminal input. The response may be: