PARTX(8) System Administration PARTX(8)NAMEpartx - tell the Linux kernel about the presence and numbering of on-
disk partitions
SYNOPSISpartx [-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 "-" (hyphen-minus).
For example:
partx--show - /dev/sda3
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-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.
-u, --update
Update the specified partitions.
-g, --noheadings
Do not print a header line.
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-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.
-o, --output list
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.
-P, --pairs
Output using key="value" format.
-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 means the last partition, and
--nr -2:-1 means the last two partitions. Supported range spec‐
ifications are:
M Specifies just one partition (e.g. --nr 3).
M: Specifies lower limit only (e.g. --nr 2:).
:N Specifies upper limit only (e.g. --nr :4).
M:N or
M–N Specifies lower and upper limits (e.g. --nr 2:4).
-r, --raw
Use the raw output format.
-s, --show
List the partitions. All numbers (except SIZE) are in 512-byte
sectors. The output columns can be rearranged with the --output
option.
-t, --type type
Specify the partition table type aix, bsd, dos, gpt, mac, minix,
sgi, solaris_x86, sun, ultrix, or unixware.
-v, --verbose
Verbose mode.
EXAMPLESpartx--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 ALSOaddpart(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=0xffff
enables 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/⟩.
util-linux June 2012 PARTX(8)
