PARTX(8)

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

SYNOPSIS
partx [-a|-d|-P|-r|-s|-u] [-t type] [-n M:N] [-] disk
partx [-a|-d|-P|-r|-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 can also tell the kernel to add or remove partitions from its bookkeeping.

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 as a partition.

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.

-g, --noheadings
    Do not print a header line with --show or --raw.

-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.

-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:-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 the lower limit only (e.g. --nr 2:).

    :N  Specifies the upper limit only (e.g. --nr :4).

    M:N Specifies the lower and upper limits (e.g. --nr 2:4).

-o, --output list
    Define the output columns to use for --show, --pairs 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 the --add, --delete, --update or --list options.

-P, --pairs
    List the partitions using the KEY="value" format.

-r, --raw
    List the partitions using the raw output format.

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

-t, --type type
    Specify the partition table type, which can be one of aix, bsd, dos, gpt, mac, minix, sgi, solaris_x86, sun, ultrix, or unixware.

-u, --update
    Update the specified partitions.

-v, --verbose
    Verbose mode.

-V, --version
    Display version information and exit.

-h, --help
    Display help text and exit.

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.

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

AUTHORS
Davidlohr Bueso (dave@gnu.org)
Karel Zak (kzak@redhat.com)

The original version was written by Andries E. Brouwer (aeb@cwi.nl).

ENVIRONMENT

LIBBLKID_DEBUG=all
    enables libblkid debug output.

AVAILABILITY
The partx command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive (ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/).