PARTX(8) System Administration 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 num-
bering of on-disk partitions.
OPTIONS
-a, --add
Add the specified partitions, or read the disk and add all par-
titions.
-b, --bytes
Print the SIZE column in bytes rather than in human-readable
format.
-d, --delete
Delete the specified partitions or all partitions. It is not
error to remove non-existing partitions, so this option is pos-
sible to use together with large --nr ranges without care about
the current partitions set on the device.
-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 sec-
tors. 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 nega-
tive 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, --up-
date or --list options.
--output-all
Output all available columns.
-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 re-
arranged with the --output option. All numbers (except SIZE)
are in 512-byte sectors.
-t, --type type
Specify the partition table type.
--list-types
List supported partition types and exit.
-u, --update
Update the specified partitions.
-S, --sector-size size
Overwrite default sector size.
-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 <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
linux/>.
util-linux December 2014 PARTX(8)