UNSHAR(1)		    General Commands Manual		     UNSHAR(1)



NAME
       unshar - unpack a shar file

SYNOPSIS
       unshar [ options ] [ file ... ]

DESCRIPTION
       Unshar  scans  mail  messages looking for the start of a shell archive.
       It then passes the archive through a copy of the shell  to  unpack  it.
       It  will	 accept multiple files.	 If no files are given, standard input
       is used.

OPTIONS
       Options have a one letter version starting with -  or  a	 long  version
       starting	 with  --.   The exception is --help and --version, which does
       not have a short version.

       --version
	      Print the version number of the program on standard output, then
	      immediately exits.

       --help Print a help summary on standard output, then immediately exits.

       -d DIRECTORY  --directory=DIRECTORY
	      Change directory to DIRECTORY before unpacking any files.

       -c  --overwrite
	      Passed  as  an  option  to  the  shar  file.  Many shell archive
	      scripts (including those produced	 by  `shar'  3.40  and	newer)
	      accepts  a -c argument to indicate that existing files should be
	      overwritten.

       -e  --exit-0
	      This option exists mainly for people who collect many shell  ar-
	      chives  into  a  single mail folder.  With this option, `unshar'
	      isolates each different shell archive from the others which have
	      been  put	 in  the  same	file, unpacking each in turn, from the
	      beginning of the file towards its	 end.	Its  proper  operation
	      relies  on  the  fact  that  many shar files are terminated by a
	      `exit 0' at the beginning of a line.

	      Option -e is internally equivalent to -E "exit 0".

       -E STRING  --split-at=STRING
	      This option works like -e, but it	 allows	 you  to  specify  the
	      string that separates archives if `exit 0' isn't appropriate.

	      For  example,  noticing that most `.signatures' have a `--' on a
	      line right before them, one can  sometimes  use  `--split-at=--'
	      for  splitting  shell  archives  which lack the `exit 0' line at
	      end.  The signature will then be	skipped	 altogether  with  the
	      headers of the following message.

       -f  --force
	      The same as -c.

SEE ALSO
       shar(1)

DIAGNOSTICS
       Any message from the shell may be displayed.

AUTHORS
       The  shar  and  unshar programs is the collective work of many authors.
       Many people  contributed	 by  reporting	problems,  suggesting  various
       improvements  or	 submitting actual code.  A list of these people is in
       the THANKS file in the sharutils distribution.

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs to <bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org>.	Please put  sharutils  in  the
       subject line.  It helps to spot the message.



			      September 10, 1995		     UNSHAR(1)