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PARTX(8) System Administration PARTX(8)

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 "-". For example:

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

Add the specified partitions, or read the disk and add all partitions.
Print the SIZE column in bytes rather than in human-readable format.
Delete the specified partitions or all partitions.
Update the specified partitions.
Do not print a header line.
Print a help text and exit.
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.
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.
Output using key="value" format.
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:
Specifies just one partition (e.g. --nr 3).
Specifies lower limit only (e.g. --nr 2:).
:N
Specifies upper limit only (e.g. --nr :4).
Specifies lower and upper limits (e.g. --nr 2:4).
Use the raw output format.
List the partitions. All numbers (except SIZE) are in 512-byte sectors. The output columns can be rearranged with the --output option.
Specify the partition table type aix, bsd, dos, gpt, mac, minix, sgi, solaris_x86, sun, ultrix or unixware.
Verbose mode.

EXAMPLES

All three commands list partition 3 of /dev/sdb.
Lists all subpartitions on /dev/sdb3 (the device is used as whole-disk).
Prints the start sector of partition 5 on /dev/sdb without header.
Lists the length in sectors and human-readable size of partition 5 on /dev/sda.
Adds all available partitions from 3 to 5 (inclusive) on /dev/sdd.
Removes the last partition on /dev/sdd.

SEE ALSO

addpart(8), delpart(8), fdisk(8), parted(8), partprobe(8)

AUTHORS

Davidlohr Bueso
Karel Zak

The original version was written by Andries E. Brouwer.

ENVIRONMENT

enables debug output.

AVAILABILITY

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

June 2012 util-linux