1PARTX(8) System Administration PARTX(8)
2
6 partx - tell the Linux kernel about the presence and numbering of on-
7 disk partitions
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10 partx [-a|-d|-s|-u] [-t TYPE] [-n M:N] [-] disk
11 partx [-a|-d|-s|-u] [-t TYPE] partition [disk]
12
14 Given a device or disk-image, partx tries to parse the partition table
15 and list its contents. It optionally adds or removes partitions.
16 The disk argument is optional when a partition argument is provided.
18 To force scanning a partition as if it were a whole disk (for example
19 to list nested subpartitions), use the argument "-". For example:
20 partx --show - /dev/sda3
23 This will see sda3 as a whole-disk rather than a partition.
25 The partx is not an fdisk program -- adding and removing partitions
27 does not change the disk, it just tells the kernel about the presence
28 and numbering of on-disk partitions.
29
31 -a, --add
32 Add the specified partitions, or read the disk and add all par‐
33 titions.
34 -b, --bytes
36 Print the SIZE column in bytes rather than in human-readable
37 format.
38 -d, --delete
40 Delete the specified partitions or all partitions.
41 -u, --update
43 Update the specified partitions.
44 -g, --noheadings
46 Do not print a header line.
47 -h, --help
49 Print a help text and exit.
50 -l, --list
52 List the partitions. Note that all numbers are in 512-byte sec‐
53 tors. This output format is DEPRECATED in favour of --show. Do
54 not use it in newly written scripts.
55 -o, --output list
57 Define the output columns to use for --show and --raw output.
58 If no output arrangement is specified, then a default set is
59 used. Use --help to get list of all supported columns. This
60 option cannot be combined with --add, --delete or --list
61 options.
62 -P, --pairs
64 Output using key="value" format.
65 -n, --nr M:N
67 Specify the range of partitions. For backward compatibility
68 also the format M-N is supported. The range may contain nega‐
69 tive numbers, for example --nr :-1 means the last partition, and
70 --nr -2:-1 means the last two partitions. Supported range spec‐
71 ifications are:
72 M Specifies just one partition (e.g. --nr 3).
74 M: Specifies lower limit only (e.g. --nr 2:).
76 :N Specifies upper limit only (e.g. --nr :4).
78 M:N or
80 M-N Specifies lower and upper limits (e.g. --nr 2:4).
81 -r, --raw
83 Use the raw output format.
84 -s, --show
86 List the partitions. All numbers (except SIZE) are in 512-byte
87 sectors. The output columns can be rearranged with the --output
88 option.
89 -t, --type type
91 Specify the partition table type aix, bsd, dos, gpt, mac, minix,
92 sgi, solaris_x86, sun, ultrix or unixware.
93 -v, --verbose
95 Verbose mode.
96
98 partx --show /dev/sdb3
99 partx --show --nr 3 /dev/sdb
100 partx --show /dev/sdb3 /dev/sdb
101 All three commands list partition 3 of /dev/sdb.
102 partx --show - /dev/sdb3
104 Lists all subpartitions on /dev/sdb3 (the device is used as
105 whole-disk).
106 partx -o START -g --nr 5 /dev/sdb
108 Prints the start sector of partition 5 on /dev/sdb without
109 header.
110 partx -o SECTORS,SIZE /dev/sda5 /dev/sda
112 Lists the length in sectors and human-readable size of partition
113 5 on /dev/sda.
114 partx --add --nr 3:5 /dev/sdd
116 Adds all available partitions from 3 to 5 (inclusive) on
117 /dev/sdd.
118 partx -d --nr :-1 /dev/sdd
120 Removes the last partition on /dev/sdd.
121
123 addpart(8), delpart(8), fdisk(8), parted(8), partprobe(8)
124
126 Davidlohr Bueso ⟨dave@gnu.org⟩
127 Karel Zak ⟨kzak@redhat.com⟩
128 The original version was written by Andries E. Brouwer ⟨aeb@cwi.nl⟩.
130
132 LIBBLKID_DEBUG=0xffff
133 enables debug output.
134
136 The partx command is part of the util-linux package and is available
137 from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
138 linux/⟩.
139util-linux June 2012 PARTX(8)