NAME


tar - The GNU version of the tar archiving utility

SYNOPSIS


tar [OPTION...] [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION


GNU ‘tar’ saves many files together into a single tape or disk archive, and can restore individual files from the archive.

EXAMPLES


tar -cf archive.tar foo bar
 # Create archive.tar from files foo and bar.
tar -tvf archive.tar
 # List all files in archive.tar verbosely.
tar -xf archive.tar
 # Extract all files from archive.tar.
Main operation mode:
-A, --catenate, --concatenate
 append tar files to an archive
-c, --create
 create a new archive
-d, --diff, --compare
 find differences between archive and file system
--delete
 delete from the archive (not on mag tapes!)
-r, --append
 append files to the end of an archive
-t, --list list the contents of an archive
--test-label
 test the archive volume label and exit
-u, --update
 only append files newer than copy in archive
-x, --extract, --get
 extract files from an archive
Operation modifiers:
--check-device
 check device numbers when creating incremental archives (default)
-g, --listed-incremental=FILE
 handle new GNU-format incremental backup
-G, --incremental
 handle old GNU-format incremental backup
--ignore-failed-read
 do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files
-n, --seek archive is seekable
--no-check-device
 do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives
--occurrence[=NUMBER]
 process only the NUMBERth occurrence of each file in the archive; this option is valid only in conjunction with one of the subcommands --delete, --diff, --extract or --list and when a list of files is given either on the command line or via the -T option; NUMBER defaults to 1
--sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR]
 set version of the sparse format to use (implies --sparse)
-S, --sparse
 handle sparse files efficiently
Overwrite control:
-k, --keep-old-files
 don’t replace existing files when extracting
--keep-newer-files
 don’t replace existing files that are newer than their archive copies
--no-overwrite-dir
 preserve metadata of existing directories
--overwrite
 overwrite existing files when extracting
--overwrite-dir
 overwrite metadata of existing directories when extracting (default)
--recursive-unlink
 empty hierarchies prior to extracting directory
--remove-files
 remove files after adding them to the archive
-U, --unlink-first
 remove each file prior to extracting over it
-W, --verify
 attempt to verify the archive after writing it
Select output stream:
--ignore-command-error ignore exit codes of children
--no-ignore-command-error
 treat non-zero exit codes of children as error
-O, --to-stdout
 extract files to standard output
--to-command=COMMAND
 pipe extracted files to another program
Handling of file attributes:
--atime-preserve[=METHOD]
 preserve access times on dumped files, either by restoring the times after reading (METHOD=’replace’; default) or by not setting the times in the first place (METHOD=’system’)
--delay-directory-restore
 delay setting modification times and permissions of extracted directories until the end of extraction
--group=NAME
 force NAME as group for added files
--mode=CHANGES
 force (symbolic) mode CHANGES for added files
--mtime=DATE-OR-FILE
 set mtime for added files from DATE-OR-FILE
-m, --touch
 don’t extract file modified time
--no-delay-directory-restore
 cancel the effect of --delay-directory-restore option
--no-same-owner
 extract files as yourself
--no-same-permissions
 apply the user’s umask when extracting permissions from the archive (default for ordinary users)
--numeric-owner
 always use numbers for user/group names
--owner=NAME
 force NAME as owner for added files
-p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions
 extract information about file permissions (default for superuser)
--preserve
 same as both -p and -s
--same-owner
 try extracting files with the same ownership
-s, --preserve-order, --same-order
 sort names to extract to match archive
Device selection and switching:
-f, --file=ARCHIVE
 use archive file or device ARCHIVE
--force-local
 archive file is local even if it has a colon
-F, --info-script=NAME, --new-volume-script=NAME
 run script at end of each tape (implies -M)
-L, --tape-length=NUMBER
 change tape after writing NUMBER x 1024 bytes
-M, --multi-volume
 create/list/extract multi-volume archive
--rmt-command=COMMAND
 use given rmt COMMAND instead of rmt
--rsh-command=COMMAND
 use remote COMMAND instead of rsh
--volno-file=FILE
 use/update the volume number in FILE
Device blocking:
-b, --blocking-factor=BLOCKS
 BLOCKS x 512 bytes per record
-B, --read-full-records
 reblock as we read (for 4.2BSD pipes)
-i, --ignore-zeros
 ignore zeroed blocks in archive (means EOF)
--record-size=NUMBER
 NUMBER of bytes per record, multiple of 512
Archive format selection:
-H, --format=FORMAT
 create archive of the given format
FORMAT is one of the following:
gnu GNU tar 1.13.x format
oldgnu GNU format as per tar <= 1.12
pax POSIX 1003.1-2001 (pax) format
posix same as pax
ustar POSIX 1003.1-1988 (ustar) format
v7 old V7 tar format
--old-archive, --portability
 same as --format=v7
--pax-option=keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value]]...
 control pax keywords
--posix same as --format=posix
-V, --label=TEXT
 create archive with volume name TEXT; at list/extract time, use TEXT as a globbing pattern for volume name
Compression options:
-a, --auto-compress
 use archive suffix to determine the compression program
-j, --bzip2
 filter the archive through bzip2
-J, --lzma filter the archive through lzma
--no-auto-compress
 do not use use archive suffix to determine the compression program
--use-compress-program=PROG
 filter through PROG (must accept -d)
-z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip
 filter the archive through gzip
-Z, --compress, --uncompress
 filter the archive through compress
--lzop filter the archive through lzop
Local file selection:
--add-file=FILE
 add given FILE to the archive (useful if its name starts with a dash)
--backup[=CONTROL]
 backup before removal, choose version CONTROL
-C, --directory=DIR
 change to directory DIR
--exclude=PATTERN
 exclude files, given as a PATTERN
--exclude-caches
 exclude contents of directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG, except for the tag file itself
--exclude-caches-all
 exclude directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG
--exclude-caches-under exclude everything under directories containing
 CACHEDIR.TAG
--exclude-tag=FILE
 exclude contents of directories containing FILE, except for FILE itself
--exclude-tag-all=FILE exclude directories containing FILE
--exclude-tag-under=FILE
 exclude everything under directories containing FILE
--exclude-vcs
 exclude version control system directories
-h, --dereference
 follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they point to
--hard-dereference
 follow hard links; archive and dump the files they refer to
-K, --starting-file=MEMBER-NAME
 begin at member MEMBER-NAME in the archive
--newer-mtime=DATE
 compare date and time when data changed only
--no-null disable the effect of the previous --null option
--no-recursion
 avoid descending automatically in directories
--no-unquote
 do not unquote filenames read with -T
--null -T reads null-terminated names, disable -C
-N, --newer=DATE-OR-FILE, --after-date=DATE-OR-FILE
 only store files newer than DATE-OR-FILE
--one-file-system
 stay in local file system when creating archive
-P, --absolute-names
 don’t strip leading ‘/’s from file names
--recursion
 recurse into directories (default)
--suffix=STRING
 backup before removal, override usual suffix (’~’ unless overridden by environment variable SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX)
-T, --files-from=FILE
 get names to extract or create from FILE
--unquote
 unquote filenames read with -T (default)
-X, --exclude-from=FILE
 exclude patterns listed in FILE
File name transformations:
--strip-components=NUMBER
 strip NUMBER leading components from file names on extraction
--transform=EXPRESSION, --xform=EXPRESSION
 use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file names
File name matching options (affect both exclude and include patterns):
--anchored
 patterns match file name start
--ignore-case
 ignore case
--no-anchored
 patterns match after any ‘/’ (default for exclusion)
--no-ignore-case
 case sensitive matching (default)
--no-wildcards
 verbatim string matching
--no-wildcards-match-slash
 wildcards do not match ‘/’
--wildcards
 use wildcards (default for exclusion)
--wildcards-match-slash
 wildcards match ‘/’ (default for exclusion)
Informative output:
--checkpoint[=NUMBER]
 display progress messages every NUMBERth record (default 10)
--checkpoint-action=ACTION
 execute ACTION on each checkpoint
--index-file=FILE
 send verbose output to FILE
-l, --check-links
 print a message if not all links are dumped
--no-quote-chars=STRING
 disable quoting for characters from STRING
--quote-chars=STRING
 additionally quote characters from STRING
--quoting-style=STYLE
 set name quoting style; see below for valid STYLE values
-R, --block-number
 show block number within archive with each message
--show-defaults
 show tar defaults
--show-omitted-dirs
 when listing or extracting, list each directory that does not match search criteria
--show-transformed-names, --show-stored-names
 show file or archive names after transformation
--totals[=SIGNAL]
 print total bytes after processing the archive; with an argument - print total bytes when this SIGNAL is delivered; Allowed signals are: SIGHUP, SIGQUIT, SIGINT, SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2; the names without SIG prefix are also accepted
--utc print file modification dates in UTC
-v, --verbose
 verbosely list files processed
-w, --interactive, --confirmation
 ask for confirmation for every action
Compatibility options:
-o when creating, same as --old-archive; when extracting, same as --no-same-owner
Other options:
-?, --help give this help list
--restrict
 disable use of some potentially harmful options
--usage give a short usage message
--version
 print program version
Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional for any corresponding short options.
The backup suffix is ‘~’, unless set with --suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control may be set with --backup or VERSION_CONTROL, values are:
none, off
 never make backups
t, numbered
 make numbered backups
nil, existing
 numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
never, simple
 always make simple backups
Valid arguments for --quoting-style options are:
literal shell shell-always c c-maybe escape locale clocale
*This* tar defaults to: --format=gnu -f- -b20 --quoting-style=escape --rmt-command=/usr/libexec/rmt --rsh-command=/usr/bin/rsh

AUTHOR


Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.

REPORTING BUGS


Report bugs to <bug-tar@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT


Copyright © 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html> This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO


The full documentation for tar is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and tar programs are properly installed at your site, the command
info tar
should give you access to the complete manual.

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