TAR

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: March 2012
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NAME

tar - manual page for tar 1.23

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

Common Options:

-C, --directory=DIR: change to directory DIR
-f, --file=ARCHIVE: use archive file or device ARCHIVE
-j, --bzip2: filter the archive through bzip2
-J, --xz: filter the archive through xz
-p, --preserve-permissions: extract information about file permissions (default for superuser)
-v, --verbose: verbosely list files processed
-z, --gzip: filter the archive through gzip

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
--level=NUMBER: dump level for created listed-incremental archive
-n, --seek: archive is seekable
--no-check-device: do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives
--no-seek: archive is not seekable
--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, treat them as errors
--skip-old-files: don't replace existing files when extracting, silently skip over them
--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:
--acls: Save the ACLs to the archive
--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-acls: Don't extract the ACLs from the archive
--no-delay-directory-restore: cancel the effect of --delay-directory-restore option
--no-same-owner: extract files as yourself (default for ordinary users)
--no-same-permissions: apply the user's umask when extracting permissions from the archive (default for ordinary users)
--no-selinux: Don't extract the SELinux context from the archive
--no-xattrs: Don't extract the user/root xattrs from the archive
--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 as exists in the archive (default for superuser)
-s, --preserve-order, --same-order: sort names to extract to match archive
--selinux: Save the SELinux context to the archive
--xattrs: Save the user/root xattrs to the 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
-I, --use-compress-program=PROG: filter through PROG (must accept -d)
-j, --bzip2: filter the archive through bzip2
-J, --xz: filter the archive through xz
--lzip: filter the archive through lzip
--lzma: filter the archive through lzma
--lzop
--no-auto-compress: do not use archive suffix to determine the compression program
-z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip: filter the archive through gzip
-Z, --compress, --uncompress: filter the archive through compress

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-backups: exclude backup and lock files
--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)
--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
--warning=KEYWORD: warning control
-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 the --quoting-style option are:

: literal shell shell-always c c-maybe escape locale clocale

DEFAULTS

*This* tar defaults to: --format=gnu -f- -b20 --quoting-style=escape --rmt-command=/sbin/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 © 2010 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.

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
EXAMPLES
Common Options:
Operation modifiers:
Overwrite control:
Select output stream:
Device selection and switching:
Device blocking:
Archive format selection:
Compression options:
Local file selection:
File name transformations:
Informative output:
Compatibility options:
Other options:
DEFAULTS
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 05:29:11 GMT, December 24, 2015

TAR