.\" 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" "June 2012" "util-linux" "System Administration"
.SH NAME
partx \- tell the Linux kernel about the presence and numbering of
on-disk partitions
.SH SYNOPSIS
partx [\-a | \-d | \-s | \-u] [\-t TYPE] [\-n M:N] [\-] disk
.br
partx [\-a | \-d | \-s | \-u] [\-t TYPE] 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
.IP "\fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-add\fP"
Add the specified partitions, or read the disk and add all partitions.
.IP "\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-bytes\fP"
Print the SIZE column in bytes rather than in human-readable format.
.IP "\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-delete\fP"
Delete the specified partitions or all partitions.
.IP "\fB\-u\fR, \fB\-\-update\fP"
Update the specified partitions.
.IP "\fB\-g\fR, \fB\-\-noheadings\fP"
Do not print a header line.
.IP "\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fP"
Display help text and exit.
.IP "\fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-list\fP"
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.
.IP "\fB\-o\fR, \fB\-\-output \fIlist\fP"
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
.BR \-\-add ,
.BR \-\-delete ,
or
.B \-\-list
options.
.IP "\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-pairs\fP"
Output using key="value" format.
.IP "\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-nr \fIM:N\fP"
Specify the range of partitions.  For backward compatibility also the
format
.I M\(enN
is supported.  The range may contain negative numbers, for example
.BI \-\-nr \ :\-1
means the last partition, and
.BI \-\-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\fR
.IR 3 ).
.TP
.I M:
Specifies lower limit only (e.g.\& \fB\-\-nr\fR
.IR 2: ).
.TP
.I :N
Specifies upper limit only (e.g.\& \fB\-\-nr\fR
.IR :4 ).
.TP
.IR M:N \ or
.TQ
.I M\(enN
Specifies lower and upper limits (e.g.\& \fB\-\-nr\fR
.IR 2:4 ).
.RE
.IP "\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-raw\fP"
Use the raw output format.
.IP "\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-show\fP"
List the partitions.  All numbers (except SIZE) are in 512-byte
sectors.  The output columns can be rearranged with the
.B \-\-output
option.
.IP "\fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-type \fItype\fP"
Specify the partition table type
.IR aix ,
.IR bsd ,
.IR dos ,
.IR gpt ,
.IR mac ,
.IR minix ,
.IR sgi ,
.IR solaris_x86 ,
.IR sun ,
.IR ultrix ,
or
.IR unixware .
.IP "\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fP"
Verbose mode.
.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=0xffff
enables 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 .