View Object Files of Static Library on Linux

Working with Linux development often involves static libraries (files ending in .a), which are collections of compiled object files bundled together. In some cases, you may need to examine a library's contents - for example, when debugging linker errors, verifying which object files were included, or ensuring the library was built correctly. This tutorial demonstrates how to view object files of static library on Linux.

The ar command, which is part of the Binutils package, allows you to manage and inspect archives of object files. Using ar with -t option, you can see all the object files packed inside a static library without extracting them.

For example, to examine the /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.a static library, run the command:

ar -t /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.a

The command will output a list of object files contained in the archive, such as:

adler32.o
crc32.o
deflate.o
infback.o
inffast.o
inflate.o
inftrees.o
trees.o
zutil.o
compress.o
uncompr.o
gzclose.o
gzlib.o
gzread.o
gzwrite.o

Each of these object files represents compiled code included in the library. This method is quick and safe - it does not modify the library, and you don't need to extract files just to see what's inside.