# Shared Objects

**URL:** <https://community.unix.com/t/shared-objects/151899>\
**Category:** UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers\
**Created:** [March 1, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/shared-objects/151899 "2005-03-01T08:02:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mrgubbala](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/mrgubbala/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@mrgubbala](https://community.unix.com/u/mrgubbala)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/shared-objects/151899/1 "2005-03-01T08:02:47Z")

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Hi Friends !  
I have a library, say libxyz.a.  
To view all the object files in the archive, i issued the command :

ar -t libxyz.a

which displayed all the object files it contains.

Now, I would like to know the functions in each object file.

Is there any such command that displays functions in an object file ??

thanks,  
madhav

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![odys](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/odys/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@odys](https://community.unix.com/u/odys)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/shared-objects/151899/2 "2005-03-01T16:53:44Z")

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Maybe 'objdump' with suitable option will help you.

Regards

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**Author:** ![vgersh99](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/vgersh99/32/14851_2.png) [@vgersh99](https://community.unix.com/u/vgersh99)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/shared-objects/151899/3 "2005-03-01T17:06:30Z")

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... or 'nm'

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vibhor\_agarwali](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/vibhor_agarwali/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@vibhor\_agarwali](https://community.unix.com/u/vibhor_agarwali)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/shared-objects/151899/4 "2005-03-02T01:35:17Z")

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Can you help me to find the advantages of ar with respect to tar.

I generally use tar to accumulate files, but on reading man pages of ar, it can also be used to do the same thing.

Just one thing that ar can do and tar can't is, view contents of an archive file.  
Anything else.