man > jar(1)

⚡ TLDR: jar (tldr-pages)

Java applications/libraries packager.

  • Recursively archive all files in the current directory into a `.jar` file
    jar cf {{file.jar}} *
  • Unzip `.jar`/`.war` file to the current directory
    jar -xvf {{file.jar}}
  • List a `.jar`/`.war` file content
    jar tf {{path/to/file.jar}}
  • List a `.jar`/`.war` file content with verbose output
    jar tvf {{path/to/file.jar}}
jar(1)                                       Basic Tools                                      jar(1)

NAME
       jar - Manipulates Java Archive (JAR) files.

SYNOPSIS
       Create JAR file


       jar c[efmMnv0] [entrypoint] [jarfile] [manifest] [-C dir] file ... [-Joption ...] [@arg-file ...]


       Update JAR file


       jar u[efmMnv0] [entrypoint] [jarfile] [manifest] [-C dir] file ... [-Joption ...] [@arg-file ...]


       Extract JAR file


       jar x[vf] [jarfile] file ... [-Joption ...] [@arg-file ...]


       List Contents of JAR file


       jar t[vf] [jarfile] file ... [-Joption ...] [@arg-file ...]


       Add Index to JAR file


       jar i jarfile [-Joption ...] [@arg-file ...]


DESCRIPTION
       The jar command is a general-purpose archiving and compression tool, based on ZIP and the
       ZLIB compression format. However, the jar command was designed mainly to package Java applets
       or applications into a single archive. When the components of an applet or application
       (files, images and sounds) are combined into a single archive, they can be downloaded by a
       Java agent (such as a browser) in a single HTTP transaction, rather than requiring a new
       connection for each piece. This dramatically improves download times. The jar command also
       compresses files, which further improves download time. The jar command also allows
       individual entries in a file to be signed by the applet author so that their origin can be
       authenticated. A JAR file can be used as a class path entry, whether or not it is compressed.

       The syntax for the jar command resembles the syntax for the tar command. It has several
       operation modes, defined by one of the mandatory operation arguments. Other arguments are
       either options that modify the behavior of the operation, or operands required to perform the
       operation.

OPERATION ARGUMENTS
       When using the jar command, you have to select an operation to be performed by specifying one
       of the following operation arguments. You can mix them up with other one-letter options on
       the command line, but usually the operation argument is the first argument specified.

       c      Create a new JAR archive.

       i      Generate index information for a JAR archive.

       t      List the contents of a JAR archive.

       u      Update a JAR archive.

       x      Extract files from a JAR archive.

OPTIONS
       Use  the  following  options to customize how the JAR file is created, updated, extracted, or
       viewed:

       e      Sets the class specified by the entrypoint  operand  to  be  the  entry  point  for  a
              standalone  Java  application  bundled  into  an  executable JAR file. The use of this
              option creates or overrides the Main-Class attribute value in the manifest file. The e
              option can be used when creating (c) or updating (u) the JAR file.

              For example, the following command creates the Main.jar archive  with  the  Main.class
              file where the Main-Class attribute value in the manifest is set to Main:

              jar cfe Main.jar Main Main.class



              The  Java  Runtime Environment (JRE) can directly call this application by running the
              following command:

              java -jar Main.jar



              If the entry point class name is in a package, then it could use either the dot (.) or
              slash (/) as the delimiter. For example, if Main.class is in a package  called  mydir,
              then the entry point can be specified in one of the following ways:

              jar -cfe Main.jar mydir/Main mydir/Main.class
              jar -cfe Main.jar mydir.Main mydir/Main.class



              Note

              Specifying  both m and e options together when a particular manifest also contains the
              Main-Class attribute results in an ambiguous Main-Class specification.  The  ambiguity
              leads to an error and the jar command creation or update operation is terminated.

       f      Sets  the file specified by the jarfile operand to be the name of the JAR file that is
              created (c), updated (u), extracted (x) from, or viewed (t). Omitting the f option and
              the jarfile operand instructs the jar command to accept the JAR file name  from  stdin
              (for x and t) or send the JAR file to stdout (for c and u).

       m      Includes  names  and  values  of  attributes  from  the file specified by the manifest
              operand in the manifest file of the jar command  (located  in  the  archive  at  META-
              INF/MANIFEST.MF).  The jar command adds the attribute’s name and value to the JAR file
              unless an entry already exists with the same name,  in  which  case  the  jar  command
              updates  the  value  of  the  attribute. The m option can be used when creating (c) or
              updating (u) the JAR file.

              You can add special-purpose name-value attribute pairs to the manifest  that  are  not
              contained  in  the  default  manifest  file.  For example, you can add attributes that
              specify vendor information, release information, package  sealing,  or  to  make  JAR-
              bundled  applications  executable.  For  examples of using the m option, see Packaging
              Programs at http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/deployment/jar/index.html

       M      Does not create a manifest file entry (for c and u), or delete a manifest  file  entry
              when  one  exists  (for u). The M option can be used when creating (c) or updating (u)
              the JAR file.

       n      When creating (c) a JAR file, this option normalizes the archive so that  the  content
              is  not  affected  by  the packing and unpacking operations of the pack200(1) command.
              Without this normalization, the signature of a signed JAR can become invalid.

       v      Generates verbose output to standard output. See Examples.

       0      (Zero) Creates (c) or updates (u) the JAR file without using ZIP compression.

       -C dir
              When creating (c) or updating (u) a JAR file,  this  option  temporarily  changes  the
              directory  while  processing  files  specified  by the file operands. Its operation is
              intended to be similar to the -C option of  the  UNIX  tar  utility.For  example,  the
              following  command  changes  to the classes directory and adds the Bar.class file from
              that directory to my.jar:

              jar uf my.jar -C classes Bar.class



              The following command changes to the classes directory and adds to  my.jar  all  files
              within  the  classes directory (without creating a classes directory in the JAR file),
              then changes back to the original directory before changing to the  bin  directory  to
              add Xyz.class to my.jar.

              jar uf my.jar -C classes . -C bin Xyz.class



              If classes contained files bar1 and bar2, then the JAR file will contain the following
              after running the previous command:

              % jar tf my.jar
              META-INF/
              META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
              bar1
              bar2
              Xyz.class



       -Joption
              Sets  the  specified JVM option to be used when the JRE runs the JAR file. JVM options
              are described on the reference page for the java(1) command.  For  example,  -J-Xms48m
              sets the startup memory to 48 MB.

OPERANDS
       The following operands are recognized by the jar command.

       file   When  creating  (c)  or updating (u) a JAR file, the file operand defines the path and
              name of the file or directory that should be added to the archive. When extracting (x)
              or listing the contents (t) of a JAR file, the file operand defines the path and  name
              of  the  file  to  be extrated or listed. At least one valid file or directory must be
              specified. Separate multiple file operands with spaces. If the entrypoint, jarfile, or
              manifest operands are used, the file operands must be specified after them.

       entrypoint
              When creating (c) or updating (u) a JAR file, the entrypoint operand defines the  name
              of  the class that should be the entry point for a standalone Java application bundled
              into an executable JAR file. The entrypoint operand must be specified if the e  option
              is present.

       jarfile
              Defines  the name of the file to be created (c), updated (u), extracted (x), or viewed
              (t). The jarfile operand must be specified if the f option is present. Omitting the  f
              option  and  the jarfile operand instructs the jar command to accept the JAR file name
              from stdin (for x and t) or send the JAR file to stdout (for c and u).

              When indexing (i) a JAR file, specify the jarfile operand without the f option.

       manifest
              When creating (c) or updating (u)  a  JAR  file,  the  manifest  operand  defines  the
              preexisting  manifest  files  with  names  and  values of attributes to be included in
              MANIFEST.MF in the JAR file. The manifest operand must be specified if the f option is
              present.

       @arg-file
              To shorten or simplify the jar command, you can specify arguments in a  separate  text
              file  and  pass  it  to the jar command with the at sign (@) as a prefix. When the jar
              command encounters an argument beginning with the at sign, it expands the contents  of
              that file into the argument list.

              An  argument  file can include options and arguments of the jar command (except the -J
              options, because they are passed to the launcher,  which  does  not  support  argument
              files).  The arguments within a file can be separated by spaces or newline characters.
              File names within an argument file are relative to the current  directory  from  which
              you  run  the  jar  command,  not  relative to the location of the argument file. Wild
              cards, such as the asterisk (*), that might otherwise be  expanded  by  the  operating
              system shell, are not expanded.

              The  following  example,  shows  how to create a classes.list file with names of files
              from the current directory output by the find command:

              find . -name '*.class' -print > classes.list



              You can then execute the jar command and pass the classes.list file to  it  using  the
              @arg-file syntax:

              jar cf my.jar @classes.list



              An  argument file can be specified with a path, but any file names inside the argument
              file that have relative paths are relative to the current working directory of the jar
              command, not to the path passed in, for example:

              jar @dir/classes.list



NOTES
       The e, f, and m options must appear in the same order on the command line as the  entrypoint,
       jarfile, and manifest operands, for example:

       jar cmef myManifestFile MyMainClass myFile.jar *.class


EXAMPLES
       Example 1 Adding All Files From the Current Directory With Verbose Output

       % ls
       1.au          Animator.class    monkey.jpg
       2.au          Wave.class        spacemusic.au
       3.au          at_work.gif
       % jar cvf bundle.jar *
       added manifest
       adding: 1.au(in = 2324) (out= 67)(deflated 97%)
       adding: 2.au(in = 6970) (out= 90)(deflated 98%)
       adding: 3.au(in = 11616) (out= 108)(deflated 99%)
       adding: Animator.class(in = 2266) (out= 66)(deflated 97%)
       adding: Wave.class(in = 3778) (out= 81)(deflated 97%)
       adding: at_work.gif(in = 6621) (out= 89)(deflated 98%)
       adding: monkey.jpg(in = 7667) (out= 91)(deflated 98%)
       adding: spacemusic.au(in = 3079) (out= 73)(deflated 97%)

       Example 2 Adding Files From Subdirectories

       % ls -F
       audio/ classes/ images/
       % jar cvf bundle.jar audio classes images
       added manifest
       adding: audio/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%)
       adding: audio/1.au(in = 2324) (out= 67)(deflated 97%)
       adding: audio/2.au(in = 6970) (out= 90)(deflated 98%)
       adding: audio/3.au(in = 11616) (out= 108)(deflated 99%)
       adding: audio/spacemusic.au(in = 3079) (out= 73)(deflated 97%)
       adding: classes/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%)
       adding: classes/Animator.class(in = 2266) (out= 66)(deflated 97%)
       adding: classes/Wave.class(in = 3778) (out= 81)(deflated 97%)
       adding: images/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%)
       adding: images/monkey.jpg(in = 7667) (out= 91)(deflated 98%)
       adding: images/at_work.gif(in = 6621) (out= 89)(deflated 98%)
       % ls -F
       audio/ bundle.jar classes/ images/

       Example 3 Listing the Contents of JAR

       % jar tf bundle.jar


       META-INF/
       META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
       audio/1.au
       audio/2.au
       audio/3.au
       audio/spacemusic.au
       classes/Animator.class
       classes/Wave.class
       images/monkey.jpg
       images/at_work.gif

       Example 4 Adding an Index

       Use the i option when you split the interdependent classes for a stock trade application into
       three  JAR files: main.jar, buy.jar, and sell.jar. If you specify the Class-Path attribute in
       the main.jar manifest, then you can use the i option to speed up the class loading  time  for
       your application:

       Class-Path: buy.jar sell.jar
       jar i main.jar

       An  INDEX.LIST file is inserted to the META-INF directory. This enables the application class
       loader to download the specified JAR files when it is searching for classes or resources.

       The application class loader uses the information stored in this  file  for  efficient  class
       loading.  To  copy  directories,  first  compress  files in dir1 to stdout, then pipeline and
       extract from stdin to dir2 (omitting the -f option from both jar commands):

       (cd dir1; jar c .) | (cd dir2; jar x)


SEE ALSO
       • pack200(1).

       • The        JAR        section        of        The        Java         Tutorials         at
         http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/deployment/jar/index.html

JDK 8                                     21 November 2013                                    jar(1)
jar(1) □✕
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION OPERATION ARGUMENTS OPTIONS
-Joption
OPERANDS NOTES EXAMPLES
Example 1 Adding All Files From the Current Directory With Verbose Output % ls 1.au Animator.class monkey.jpg 2.au Wave.class spacemusic.au 3.au at_work.gif added manifest adding: 1.au(in = 2324) (out= 67)(deflated 97%) adding: 2.au(in = 6970) (out= 90)(deflated 98%) adding: 3.au(in = 11616) (out= 108)(deflated 99%) adding: Animator.class(in = 2266) (out= 66)(deflated 97%) adding: Wave.class(in = 3778) (out= 81)(deflated 97%) adding: at_work.gif(in = 6621) (out= 89)(deflated 98%) adding: monkey.jpg(in = 7667) (out= 91)(deflated 98%) adding: spacemusic.au(in = 3079) (out= 73)(deflated 97%) Example 2 Adding Files From Subdirectories % ls -F audio/ classes/ images/ % jar cvf bundle.jar audio classes images added manifest adding: audio/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%) adding: audio/1.au(in = 2324) (out= 67)(deflated 97%) adding: audio/2.au(in = 6970) (out= 90)(deflated 98%) adding: audio/3.au(in = 11616) (out= 108)(deflated 99%) adding: audio/spacemusic.au(in = 3079) (out= 73)(deflated 97%) adding: classes/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%) adding: classes/Animator.class(in = 2266) (out= 66)(deflated 97%) adding: classes/Wave.class(in = 3778) (out= 81)(deflated 97%) adding: images/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%) adding: images/monkey.jpg(in = 7667) (out= 91)(deflated 98%) adding: images/at_work.gif(in = 6621) (out= 89)(deflated 98%) % ls -F audio/ bundle.jar classes/ images/ Example 3 Listing the Contents of JAR % jar tf bundle.jar META-INF/MANIFEST.MF audio/1.au audio/2.au audio/3.au audio/spacemusic.au classes/Animator.class classes/Wave.class images/monkey.jpg images/at_work.gif Example 4 Adding an Index Class-Path: buy.jar sell.jar jar i main.jar (cd dir1; jar c .) | (cd dir2; jar x)
SEE ALSO

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