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 variants 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 contents and check the CRC.
-e or -x: Extract archive. Files are extracted to the current working directory 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 normal 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.

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 extended with more effective compression algorithms.

Versions of the LHA tool were later ported to various different operating systems, including the Amiga, Atari, MacOS, OS/2 and Unix. A tool for MSX-DOS named PMarc reused the container format with a new compression 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

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 WARRANTIES 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 DAMAGES 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.