lha(1) General Commands Manual lha(1)
NAME
lha - compression tool for .lzh archive files.
SYNOPSIS
lha [-]{lvtxe[q{num}][finv]}[w=<dir>] archive_file [file...]
DESCRIPTION
lha is a tool for extracting .lzh archive files. It also supports vari-
ants of the .lzh archive, such as .lzs and .pma.
This version of the lha tool is part of Lhasa, a free implementation of
the .lzh format.
COMMAND SYNTAX
The lha tool has an unusual command syntax, compared to most other Unix
commands. The first parameter to the program specifies the command to
perform and all additional options. The second parameter specifies the
path to the archive file to operate on. Following this is a list of
wildcard patterns to match against the filenames of the archived files.
The first character of the command parameter specifies the command to
perform, which is one of the following:
-l List contents of the specified archive.
-v Verbosely list contents of the specified archive.
-t Test the integrity of the specified archive: decompress its con-
tents and check the CRC.
-e or -x
Extract archive. Files are extracted to the current working di-
rectory unless the 'w' option is specified.
OPTIONS
The remainder of the command parameter is used to specify additional
options:
q[012] Quiet mode. Higher numbers suppress more output. Level 0 is nor-
mal operation. If no number is specified, full suppression
(level 2) is used. The quiet option also turns on the force
overwrite option ('f').
f Force overwrite of existing files: do not prompt.
i Ignore paths of archived files: extract all archived files to
the same directory, ignoring subdirectories.
n Do not perform any actual operations: instead, perform a dry run
of the requested operation and describe what would have been
done on standard output.
v Verbose mode: causes extra information to be written to standard
output.
w=dir Specify destination directory for extracting files. This must be
the last option of the first parameter.
SEE ALSO
unzip(1), tar(1), gzip(1), bzip2(1)
HISTORY
The .lzh format originated with Kazuhiko Miki's MS-DOS archive tool,
LArc, using the LZSS algorithm developed by Haruhiko Okumura, and the
.lzs filename extension. The container format was reused for LHarc, by
Haruyasu Yoshizaki (Yoshi), which used a new algorithm named LZHUF and
the .lzh extension. In later versions, LHarc was renamed to LHA and ex-
tended with more effective compression algorithms.
Versions of the LHA tool were later ported to various different operat-
ing systems, including the Amiga, Atari, MacOS, OS/2 and Unix. A tool
for MSX-DOS named PMarc reused the container format with a new compres-
sion algorithm (.pma extension).
The Unix version of the tool was developed by Masaru Oki, Nobutaka
Watazaki and Tsugio Okamoto, but was released under a software license
that does not conform to the Free Software or Open Source Definitions.
Lhasa was developed as a drop-in replacement that is Free Software and
Open Source.
BUGS
The current version does not allow the creation of new archive files.
Some obscure compression algorithms are not currently supported (-lh2-,
-lh3-, -lx1-, -lhx-).
AUTHOR
Lhasa was written and is maintained by Simon Howard.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2011, 2012 Simon Howard.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for
any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the
above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WAR-
RANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE
FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAM-
AGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN
AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT
OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
lha(1)
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