NAME
tar - manual page for tar 1.26
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.
Note that this manual page contains just very brief description (or
more like a list of possible functionality) originally generated by the
help2man utility. 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 com‐
plete manual.
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.
DEFAULTS
*This* tar installation defaults to:
format=gnu -f- -b20 quoting-style=escape rmt-command=/sbin/rmt
rsh-command=/usr/bin/rsh
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 supe‐
ruser)
-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 ar‐
chive; 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
keep-newer-files
don't replace existing files that are newer than their archive
copies
keep-directory-symlink
Don't replace existing symlinks to directories when extracting.
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
skip-old-files
don't replace existing files when extracting, silently skip over
them
-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 set‐
ting 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 (default for ordinary users)
no-same-permissions
apply the user's umask when extracting permissions from the ar‐
chive (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 supe‐
ruser)
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
Handling of extended file attributes:
acls Enable the POSIX ACLs support
no-acls
Disable the POSIX ACLs support
no-selinux
Disable the SELinux context support
no-xattrs
Disable extended attributes support
selinux
Enable the SELinux context support
xattrs
Enable extended attributes support
xattrs-exclude=MASK
specify the exclude pattern for xattr keys
xattrs-include=MASK
specify the include pattern for xattr keys
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
Note: You might need to install external program (lzip/ncom‐
press/lzma...) to use some of these compression options
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 over‐
ridden by environment variable SIMPLEBACKUPSUFFIX)
-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 pat‐
terns):
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
full-time
print file time to its full resolution
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 sig‐
nals 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 SIM‐
PLEBACKUPSUFFIX. The version control may be set with backup or
VERSIONCONTROL, 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
AUTHOR
Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to .
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU
GPL version 3 or later .
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
tar 1.26 February 2013 TAR(1)