PARTX

Section: System Administration (8)
Updated: June 2012
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NAME

partx - tell the Linux kernel about the presence and numbering of on-disk partitions

SYNOPSIS

partx [-a | -d | -s | -u] [-t TYPE] [-n M:N] [-] disk
partx [-a | -d | -s | -u] [-t TYPE] partition [disk]

DESCRIPTION

Given a device or disk-image, partx tries to parse the partition table and list its contents. It optionally adds or removes partitions.

The disk argument is optional when a 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:

partx --show - /dev/sda3

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

The partx is not an fdisk program - adding and removing partitions does not change the disk, it just tells the kernel about the presence and numbering of on-disk partitions.

OPTIONS

-a, --add

Add the specified partitions, or read the disk and add all partitions.

-b, --bytes

Print the SIZE column in bytes rather than in human-readable format.

-d, --delete

Delete the specified partitions or all partitions.

-u, --update

Update the specified partitions.

-g, --noheadings

Do not print a header line.

-h, --help

Display help text and exit.

-l, --list

List the partitions. Note that all numbers are in 512-byte sectors. This output format is DEPRECATED in favour of --show. Do not use it in newly written scripts.

-o, --output list

Define the output columns to use for --show and --raw output. If no output arrangement is specified, then a default set is used. Use --help to get list of all supported columns. This option cannot be combined with --add, --delete, or --list options.

-P, --pairs

Output using key="value" format.

-n, --nr M:N

Specify the range of partitions. For backward compatibility also the format M-N is supported. The range may contain negative numbers, for example --nr :-1 means the last partition, and --nr -2:-1 means the last two partitions. Supported range specifications are:

M: Specifies just one partition (e.g. --nr 3).
M:: Specifies lower limit only (e.g. --nr 2:).
:N: Specifies upper limit only (e.g. --nr :4).
M:N or: M-N Specifies lower and upper limits (e.g. --nr 2:4).

-r, --raw

Use the raw output format.

-s, --show

List the partitions. All numbers (except SIZE) are in 512-byte sectors. The output columns can be rearranged with the --output option.

-t, --type type

Specify the partition table type aix, bsd, dos, gpt, mac, minix, sgi, solaris_x86, sun, ultrix, or unixware.

-v, --verbose

Verbose mode.

EXAMPLES

partx --show /dev/sdb3: partx --show --nr 3 /dev/sdb partx --show /dev/sdb3 /dev/sdb All three commands list partition 3 of /dev/sdb.
partx --show - /dev/sdb3: Lists all subpartitions on /dev/sdb3 (the device is used as whole-disk).
partx -o START -g --nr 5 /dev/sdb: Prints the start sector of partition 5 on /dev/sdb without header.
partx -o SECTORS,SIZE /dev/sda5 /dev/sda: Lists the length in sectors and human-readable size of partition 5 on /dev/sda.
partx --add --nr 3:5 /dev/sdd: Adds all available partitions from 3 to 5 (inclusive) on /dev/sdd.
partx -d --nr :-1 /dev/sdd: Removes the last partition on /dev/sdd.

AUTHORS

Davidlohr Bueso
Karel Zak

The original version was written by Andries E. Brouwer

ENVIRONMENT

LIBBLKID_DEBUG=0xffff: enables debug output.

AVAILABILITY

The partx command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive