partx(8) 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 numbering of on-disk partitions.

OPTIONS

-a, --add
Add the specified partitions, or read the disk and add all partitions.
-b, --bytes
Print the SIZE column in bytes rather than in human-readable format.
-d, --delete
Delete the specified partitions or all partitions.
-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 sectors. 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 negative 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, --update or --list options.
-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 rearranged with the --output option. All numbers (except SIZE) are in 512-byte sectors.
-t, --type type
Specify the partition table type, which can be one of aix, bsd, dos, gpt, mac, minix, sgi, solaris_x86, sun, ultrix, or unixware.
-u, --update
Update the specified partitions.
-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.

AUTHORS

Davidlohr Bueso
Karel Zak

The original version was written by Andries E. Brouwer

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