The second linker member has the name “\” as does the first linker member. Although both the linker members provide a directory of symbols and archive members that contain them, the second linker member is used in preference to the first by all current linkers. The second linker member includes symbol names in lexical order, which enables faster searching by name.
The first second member has the following format. This information appears after the header:
| Offset | Size | Field | Description |
| 0 | 4 | Number of Members | Unsigned long containing the number of archive members. |
| 4 | 4 * m | Offsets | Array of file offsets to archive member headers, arranged in ascending order. Each offset is an unsigned long. The number m is equal to the value of the Number of Members field. |
| * | 4 | Number of Symbols | Unsigned long containing the number of symbols indexed. Each object-file member typically defines one or more external symbols. |
| * | 2 * n | Indices | Array of 1-based indices (unsigned short) which map symbol names to archive member offsets. The number n is equal to Number of Symbols. For each symbol named in the String Table, the corresponding element in the Indices array gives an index into the Offsets array. The Offsets array, in turn, 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 byte in the previous string. The number of strings must be equal to the value of the Number of Symbols fields. This table lists all the symbol names in ascending lexical order. |