The name of the first linker member is "\". The first linker member, which is included for backward compatibility, is not used by current linkers but its format must be correct. This linker member provides a directory of symbol names, as does the second linker member. For each symbol, the information indicates where to find the archive member that contains the symbol.
The first linker member has the following format. This information appears after the header:
| Offset | Size | Field | Description |
| 0 | 4 | Number of Symbols | Unsigned long containing the number of symbols indexed. This number is stored in big-endian format. Each object-file member typically defines one or more external symbols. |
| 4 | 4 * n | Offsets | Array of file offsets to archive member headers, in which n is equal to Number of Symbols. Each number in the array is an unsigned long stored in big-endian format. For each symbol named in the String Table, the corresponding element in the Offsets array gives the location of the archive member that contains the symbol. |
| * | * | String Table | Series of null-terminated strings that name all the symbols in the directory. Each string begins immediately after the null character in the previous string. The number of strings must be equal to the value of the Number of Symbols fields. |
The elements in the Offsets array must be arranged in ascending order. This fact implies that the symbols listed in the String Table must be arranged according to the order of archive members. For example, all the symbols in the first object-file member would have to be listed before the symbols in the second object file.