1TAR(1) GNU TAR Manual TAR(1)
2
6 tar - an archiving utility
7
9 Traditional usage
10 tar {A|c|d|r|t|u|x}[GnSkUWOmpsMBiajJzZhPlRvwo] [ARG...]
11 UNIX-style usage
13 tar -A [OPTIONS] ARCHIVE ARCHIVE
14 tar -c [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
16 tar -d [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
18 tar -t [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]
20 tar -r [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
22 tar -u [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
24 tar -x [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]
26 GNU-style usage
28 tar {--catenate|--concatenate} [OPTIONS] ARCHIVE ARCHIVE
29 tar --create [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
31 tar {--diff|--compare} [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
33 tar --delete [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]
35 tar --append [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
37 tar --list [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]
39 tar --test-label [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [LABEL...]
41 tar --update [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
43 tar --update [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]
45 tar {--extract|--get} [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]
47
49 This manpage is a short description of GNU tar. For a detailed discus‐
50 sion, including examples and usage recommendations, refer to the GNU
51 Tar Manual available in texinfo format. If the info reader and the tar
52 documentation are properly installed on your system, the command
53 info tar
55 should give you access to the complete manual.
57 You can also view the manual using the info mode in emacs(1), or find
59 it in various formats online at
60 http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual
62 If any discrepancies occur between this manpage and the GNU Tar Manual,
64 the later shall be considered the authoritative source.
65
67 GNU tar is an archiving program designed to store multiple files in a
68 single file (an archive), and to manipulate such archives. The archive
69 can be either a regular file or a device (e.g. a tape drive, hence the
70 name of the program, which stands for tape archiver), which can be
71 located either on the local or on a remote machine.
72 Option styles
74 Options to GNU tar can be given in three different styles. In tradi‐
75 tional style, the first argument is a cluster of option letters and all
76 subsequent arguments supply arguments to those options that require
77 them. The arguments are read in the same order as the option letters.
78 Any command line words that remain after all options has been processed
79 are treated as non-optional arguments: file or archive member names.
80 For example, the c option requires creating the archive, the v option
82 requests the verbose operation, and the f option takes an argument that
83 sets the name of the archive to operate upon. The following command,
84 written in the traditional style, instructs tar to store all files from
85 the directory /etc into the archive file etc.tar verbosely listing the
86 files being archived:
87 tar cfv a.tar /etc
89 In UNIX or short-option style, each option letter is prefixed with a
91 single dash, as in other command line utilities. If an option takes
92 argument, the argument follows it, either as a separate command line
93 word, or immediately following the option. However, if the option
94 takes an optional argument, the argument must follow the option letter
95 without any intervening whitespace, as in -g/tmp/snar.db.
96 Any number of options not taking arguments can be clustered together
98 after a single dash, e.g. -vkp. Options that take arguments (whether
99 mandatory or optional), can appear at the end of such a cluster, e.g.
100 -vkpf a.tar.
101 The example command above written in the short-option style could look
103 like:
104 tar -cvf a.tar /etc
106 or
107 tar -c -v -f a.tar /etc
108 In GNU or long-option style, each option begins with two dashes and has
110 a meaningful name, consisting of lower-case letters and dashes. When
111 used, the long option can be abbreviated to its initial letters, pro‐
112 vided that this does not create ambiguity. Arguments to long options
113 are supplied either as a separate command line word, immediately fol‐
114 lowing the option, or separated from the option by an equals sign with
115 no intervening whitespace. Optional arguments must always use the lat‐
116 ter method.
117 Here are several ways of writing the example command in this style:
119 tar --create --file a.tar --verbose /etc
121 or (abbreviating some options):
122 tar --cre --file=a.tar --verb /etc
123 The options in all three styles can be intermixed, although doing so
125 with old options is not encouraged.
126 Operation mode
128 The options listed in the table below tell GNU tar what operation it is
129 to perform. Exactly one of them must be given. Meaning of non-
130 optional arguments depends on the operation mode requested.
131 -A, --catenate, --concatenate
133 Append archive to the end of another archive. The arguments are
134 treated as the names of archives to append. All archives must
135 be of the same format as the archive they are appended to, oth‐
136 erwise the resulting archive might be unusable with non-GNU
137 implementations of tar. Notice also that when more than one ar‐
138 chive is given, the members from archives other than the first
139 one will be accessible in the resulting archive only if using
140 the -i (--ignore-zeros) option.
141 Compressed archives cannot be concatenated.
143 -c, --create
145 Create a new archive. Arguments supply the names of the files
146 to be archived. Directories are archived recursively, unless
147 the --no-recursion option is given.
148 -d, --diff, --compare
150 Find differences between archive and file system. The arguments
151 are optional and specify archive members to compare. If not
152 given, the current working directory is assumed.
153 --delete
155 Delete from the archive. The arguments supply names of the ar‐
156 chive members to be removed. At least one argument must be
157 given.
158 This option does not operate on compressed archives. There is
160 no short option equivalent.
161 -r, --append
163 Append files to the end of an archive. Arguments have the same
164 meaning as for -c (--create).
165 -t, --list
167 List the contents of an archive. Arguments are optional. When
168 given, they specify the names of the members to list.
169 --test-label
171 Test the archive volume label and exit. When used without argu‐
172 ments, it prints the volume label (if any) and exits with status
173 0. When one or more command line arguments are given. tar com‐
174 pares the volume label with each argument. It exits with code 0
175 if a match is found, and with code 1 otherwise. No output is
176 displayed, unless used together with the -v (--verbose) option.
177 There is no short option equivalent for this option.
179 -u, --update
181 Append files which are newer than the corresponding copy in the
182 archive. Arguments have the same meaning as with -c and -r
183 options. Notice, that newer files don't replace their old ar‐
184 chive copies, but instead are appended to the end of archive.
185 The resulting archive can thus contain several members of the
186 same name, corresponding to various versions of the same file.
187 -x, --extract, --get
189 Extract files from an archive. Arguments are optional. When
190 given, they specify names of the archive members to be
191 extracted.
192 --show-defaults
195 Show built-in defaults for various tar options and exit.
196 No arguments are allowed.
197 -?, --help
199 Display a short option summary and exit. No arguments
200 allowed.
201 --usage
203 Display a list of available options and exit. No argu‐
204 ments allowed.
205 --version
207 Print program version and copyright information and exit.
208
210 Operation modifiers
211 --check-device
212 Check device numbers when creating incremental archives
213 (default).
214 -g, --listed-incremental=FILE
216 Handle new GNU-format incremental backups. FILE is the
217 name of a snapshot file, where tar stores additional
218 information which is used to decide which files changed
219 since the previous incremental dump and, consequently,
220 must be dumped again. If FILE does not exist when creat‐
221 ing an archive, it will be created and all files will be
222 added to the resulting archive (the level 0 dump). To
223 create incremental archives of non-zero level N, create a
224 copy of the snapshot file created during the level N-1,
225 and use it as FILE.
226 When listing or extracting, the actual contents of FILE
228 is not inspected, it is needed only due to syntactical
229 requirements. It is therefore common practice to use
230 /dev/null in its place.
231 --hole-detection=METHOD
233 Use METHOD to detect holes in sparse files. This option
234 implies --sparse. Valid values for METHOD are seek and
235 raw. Default is seek with fallback to raw when not
236 applicable.
237 -G, --incremental
239 Handle old GNU-format incremental backups.
240 --ignore-failed-read
242 Do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files.
243 --level=NUMBER
245 Set dump level for created listed-incremental archive.
246 Currently only --level=0 is meaningful: it instructs tar
247 to truncate the snapshot file before dumping, thereby
248 forcing a level 0 dump.
249 -n, --seek
251 Assume the archive is seekable. Normally tar determines
252 automatically whether the archive can be seeked or not.
253 This option is intended for use in cases when such recog‐
254 nition fails. It takes effect only if the archive is
255 open for reading (e.g. with --list or --extract
256 options).
257 --no-check-device
259 Do not check device numbers when creating incremental ar‐
260 chives.
261 --no-seek
263 Assume the archive is not seekable.
264 --occurrence[=N]
266 Process only the Nth occurrence of each file in the ar‐
267 chive. This option is valid only when used with one of
268 the following subcommands: --delete, --diff, --extract or
269 --list and when a list of files is given either on the
270 command line or via the -T option. The default N is 1.
271 --restrict
273 Disable the use of some potentially harmful options.
274 --sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR]
276 Set version of the sparse format to use (implies
277 --sparse). This option implies --sparse. Valid argument
278 values are 0.0, 0.1, and 1.0. For a detailed discussion
279 of sparse formats, refer to the GNU Tar Manual, appendix
280 D, "Sparse Formats". Using info reader, it can be
281 accessed running the following command: info tar 'Sparse
282 Formats'.
283 -S, --sparse
285 Handle sparse files efficiently. Some files in the file
286 system may have segments which were actually never writ‐
287 ten (quite often these are database files created by such
288 systems as DBM). When given this option, tar attempts to
289 determine if the file is sparse prior to archiving it,
290 and if so, to reduce the resulting archive size by not
291 dumping empty parts of the file.
292 Overwrite control
294 These options control tar actions when extracting a file over an
295 existing copy on disk.
296 -k, --keep-old-files
298 Don't replace existing files when extracting.
299 --keep-newer-files
301 Don't replace existing files that are newer than their
302 archive copies.
303 --keep-directory-symlink
305 Don't replace existing symlinks to directories when
306 extracting.
307 --no-overwrite-dir
309 Preserve metadata of existing directories.
310 --one-top-level[=DIR]
312 Extract all files into DIR, or, if used without argument,
313 into a subdirectory named by the base name of the archive
314 (minus standard compression suffixes recognizable by
315 --auto-compress).
316 --overwrite
318 Overwrite existing files when extracting.
319 --overwrite-dir
321 Overwrite metadata of existing directories when extract‐
322 ing (default).
323 --recursive-unlink
325 Recursively remove all files in the directory prior to
326 extracting it.
327 --remove-files
329 Remove files from disk after adding them to the archive.
330 --skip-old-files
332 Don't replace existing files when extracting, silently
333 skip over them.
334 -U, --unlink-first
336 Remove each file prior to extracting over it.
337 -W, --verify
339 Verify the archive after writing it.
340 Output stream selection
342 --ignore-command-error
343 Ignore subprocess exit codes.
345 --no-ignore-command-error
347 Treat non-zero exit codes of children as error (default).
348 -O, --to-stdout
350 Extract files to standard output.
351 --to-command=COMMAND
353 Pipe extracted files to COMMAND. The argument is the
354 pathname of an external program, optionally with command
355 line arguments. The program will be invoked and the con‐
356 tents of the file being extracted supplied to it on its
357 standard output. Additional data will be supplied via
358 the following environment variables:
359 TAR_FILETYPE
361 Type of the file. It is a single letter with the
362 following meaning:
363 f Regular file
365 d Directory
366 l Symbolic link
367 h Hard link
368 b Block device
369 c Character device
370 Currently only regular files are supported.
372 TAR_MODE
374 File mode, an octal number.
375 TAR_FILENAME
377 The name of the file.
378 TAR_REALNAME
380 Name of the file as stored in the archive.
381 TAR_UNAME
383 Name of the file owner.
384 TAR_GNAME
386 Name of the file owner group.
387 TAR_ATIME
389 Time of last access. It is a decimal number, rep‐
390 resenting seconds since the Epoch. If the archive
391 provides times with nanosecond precision, the
392 nanoseconds are appended to the timestamp after a
393 decimal point.
394 TAR_MTIME
396 Time of last modification.
397 TAR_CTIME
399 Time of last status change.
400 TAR_SIZE
402 Size of the file.
403 TAR_UID
405 UID of the file owner.
406 TAR_GID
408 GID of the file owner.
409 Additionally, the following variables contain information
411 about tar operation mode and the archive being processed:
412 TAR_VERSION
414 GNU tar version number.
415 TAR_ARCHIVE
417 The name of the archive tar is processing.
418 TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR
420 Current blocking factor, i.e. number of 512-byte
421 blocks in a record.
422 TAR_VOLUME
424 Ordinal number of the volume tar is processing
425 (set if reading a multi-volume archive).
426 TAR_FORMAT
428 Format of the archive being processed. One of:
429 gnu, oldgnu, posix, ustar, v7. TAR_SUBCOMMAND A
430 short option (with a leading dash) describing the
431 operation tar is executing.
432 Handling of file attributes
434 --atime-preserve[=METHOD]
435 Preserve access times on dumped files, either by restor‐
436 ing the times after reading (METHOD=replace, this is the
437 default) or by not setting the times in the first place
438 (METHOD=system)
439 --delay-directory-restore
441 Delay setting modification times and permissions of
442 extracted directories until the end of extraction. Use
443 this option when extracting from an archive which has
444 unusual member ordering.
445 --group=NAME[:GID]
447 Force NAME as group for added files. If GID is not sup‐
448 plied, NAME can be either a user name or numeric GID. In
449 this case the missing part (GID or name) will be inferred
450 from the current host's group database.
451 When used with --group-map=FILE, affects only those files
453 whose owner group is not listed in FILE.
454 --group-map=FILE
456 Read group translation map from FILE. Empty lines are
457 ignored. Comments are introduced with # sign and extend
458 to the end of line. Each non-empty line in FILE defines
459 translation for a single group. It must consist of two
460 fields, delimited by any amount of whitespace:
461 OLDGRP NEWGRP[:NEWGID]
463 OLDGRP is either a valid group name or a GID prefixed
465 with +. Unless NEWGID is supplied, NEWGRP must also be
466 either a valid group name or a +GID. Otherwise, both
467 NEWGRP and NEWGID need not be listed in the system group
468 database.
469 As a result, each input file with owner group OLDGRP will
471 be stored in archive with owner group NEWGRP and GID
472 NEWGID.
473 --mode=CHANGES
475 Force symbolic mode CHANGES for added files.
476 --mtime=DATE-OR-FILE
478 Set mtime for added files. DATE-OR-FILE is either a
479 date/time in almost arbitrary format, or the name of an
480 existing file. In the latter case the mtime of that file
481 will be used.
482 -m, --touch
484 Don't extract file modified time.
485 --no-delay-directory-restore
487 Cancel the effect of the prior --delay-directory-restore
488 option.
489 --no-same-owner
491 Extract files as yourself (default for ordinary users).
492 --no-same-permissions
494 Apply the user's umask when extracting permissions from
495 the archive (default for ordinary users).
496 --numeric-owner
498 Always use numbers for user/group names.
499 --owner=NAME[:UID]
501 Force NAME as owner for added files. If UID is not sup‐
502 plied, NAME can be either a user name or numeric UID. In
503 this case the missing part (UID or name) will be inferred
504 from the current host's user database.
505 When used with --owner-map=FILE, affects only those files
507 whose owner is not listed in FILE.
508 --owner-map=FILE
510 Read owner translation map from FILE. Empty lines are
511 ignored. Comments are introduced with # sign and extend
512 to the end of line. Each non-empty line in FILE defines
513 translation for a single UID. It must consist of two
514 fields, delimited by any amount of whitespace:
515 OLDUSR NEWUSR[:NEWUID]
517 OLDUSR is either a valid user name or a UID prefixed with
519 +. Unless NEWUID is supplied, NEWUSR must also be either
520 a valid user name or a +UID. Otherwise, both NEWUSR and
521 NEWUID need not be listed in the system user database.
522 As a result, each input file owned by OLDUSR will be
524 stored in archive with owner name NEWUSR and UID NEWUID.
525 -p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions
527 extract information about file permissions (default for
528 superuser)
529 --preserve
531 Same as both -p and -s.
532 --same-owner
534 Try extracting files with the same ownership as exists in
535 the archive (default for superuser).
536 -s, --preserve-order, --same-order
538 Sort names to extract to match archive
539 --sort=ORDER
541 When creating an archive, sort directory entries accord‐
542 ing to ORDER, which is one of none, name, or inode.
543 The default is --sort=none, which stores archive members
545 in the same order as returned by the operating system.
546 Using --sort=name ensures the member ordering in the cre‐
548 ated archive is uniform and reproducible.
549 Using --sort=inode reduces the number of disk seeks made
551 when creating the archive and thus can considerably speed
552 up archivation. This sorting order is supported only if
553 the underlying system provides the necessary information.
554 Extended file attributes
556 --acls Enable POSIX ACLs support.
557 --no-acls
559 Disable POSIX ACLs support.
560 --selinux
562 Enable SELinux context support.
563 --no-selinux
565 Disable SELinux context support.
566 --xattrs
568 Enable extended attributes support.
569 --no-xattrs
571 Disable extended attributes support.
572 --xattrs-exclude=PATTERN
574 Specify the exclude pattern for xattr keys. PATTERN is a
575 POSIX regular expression, e.g. --xattrs-exclude='^user.',
576 to exclude attributes from the user namespace.
577 --xattrs-include=PATTERN
579 Specify the include pattern for xattr keys. PATTERN is a
580 POSIX regular expression.
581 Device selection and switching
583 -f, --file=ARCHIVE
584 Use archive file or device ARCHIVE. If this option is
585 not given, tar will first examine the environment vari‐
586 able `TAPE'. If it is set, its value will be used as the
587 archive name. Otherwise, tar will assume the compiled-in
588 default. The default value can be inspected either using
589 the --show-defaults option, or at the end of the tar
590 --help output.
591 An archive name that has a colon in it specifies a file
593 or device on a remote machine. The part before the colon
594 is taken as the machine name or IP address, and the part
595 after it as the file or device pathname, e.g.:
596 --file=remotehost:/dev/sr0
598 An optional username can be prefixed to the hostname,
600 placing a @ sign between them.
601 By default, the remote host is accessed via the rsh(1)
603 command. Nowadays it is common to use ssh(1) instead.
604 You can do so by giving the following command line
605 option:
606 --rsh-command=/usr/bin/ssh
608 The remote machine should have the rmt(8) command
610 installed. If its pathname does not match tar's default,
611 you can inform tar about the correct pathname using the
612 --rmt-command option.
613 --force-local
615 Archive file is local even if it has a colon.
616 -F, --info-script=COMMAND, --new-volume-script=COMMAND
618 Run COMMAND at the end of each tape (implies -M). The
619 command can include arguments. When started, it will
620 inherit tar's environment plus the following variables:
621 TAR_VERSION
623 GNU tar version number.
624 TAR_ARCHIVE
626 The name of the archive tar is processing.
627 TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR
629 Current blocking factor, i.e. number of 512-byte
630 blocks in a record.
631 TAR_VOLUME
633 Ordinal number of the volume tar is processing
634 (set if reading a multi-volume archive).
635 TAR_FORMAT
637 Format of the archive being processed. One of:
638 gnu, oldgnu, posix, ustar, v7.
639 TAR_SUBCOMMAND
641 A short option (with a leading dash) describing
642 the operation tar is executing.
643 TAR_FD File descriptor which can be used to communicate
645 the new volume name to tar.
646 If the info script fails, tar exits; otherwise, it begins
648 writing the next volume.
649 -L, --tape-length=N
651 Change tape after writing Nx1024 bytes. If N is followed
652 by a size suffix (see the subsection Size suffixes
653 below), the suffix specifies the multiplicative factor to
654 be used instead of 1024.
655 This option implies -M.
657 -M, --multi-volume
659 Create/list/extract multi-volume archive.
660 --rmt-command=COMMAND
662 Use COMMAND instead of rmt when accessing remote ar‐
663 chives. See the description of the -f option, above.
664 --rsh-command=COMMAND
666 Use COMMAND instead of rsh when accessing remote ar‐
667 chives. See the description of the -f option, above.
668 --volno-file=FILE
670 When this option is used in conjunction with --multi-vol‐
671 ume, tar will keep track of which volume of a multi-vol‐
672 ume archive it is working in FILE.
673 Device blocking
675 -b, --blocking-factor=BLOCKS
676 Set record size to BLOCKSx512 bytes.
677 -B, --read-full-records
679 When listing or extracting, accept incomplete input
680 records after end-of-file marker.
681 -i, --ignore-zeros
683 Ignore zeroed blocks in archive. Normally two consecu‐
684 tive 512-blocks filled with zeroes mean EOF and tar stops
685 reading after encountering them. This option instructs
686 it to read further and is useful when reading archives
687 created with the -A option.
688 --record-size=NUMBER
690 Set record size. NUMBER is the number of bytes per
691 record. It must be multiple of 512. It can can be suf‐
692 fixed with a size suffix, e.g. --record-size=10K, for 10
693 Kilobytes. See the subsection Size suffixes, for a list
694 of valid suffixes.
695 Archive format selection
697 -H, --format=FORMAT
698 Create archive of the given format. Valid formats are:
699 gnu GNU tar 1.13.x format
701 oldgnu GNU format as per tar <= 1.12.
703 pax, posix
705 POSIX 1003.1-2001 (pax) format.
706 ustar POSIX 1003.1-1988 (ustar) format.
708 v7 Old V7 tar format.
710 --old-archive, --portability
712 Same as --format=v7.
713 --pax-option=keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value]]...
715 Control pax keywords when creating PAX archives (-H pax).
716 This option is equivalent to the -o option of the
717 pax(1)utility.
718 --posix
720 Same as --format=posix.
721 -V, --label=TEXT
723 Create archive with volume name TEXT. If listing or
724 extracting, use TEXT as a globbing pattern for volume
725 name.
726 Compression options
728 -a, --auto-compress
729 Use archive suffix to determine the compression program.
730 -I, --use-compress-program=COMMAND
732 Filter data through COMMAND. It must accept the -d
733 option, for decompression. The argument can contain com‐
734 mand line options.
735 -j, --bzip2
737 Filter the archive through bzip2(1).
738 -J, --xz
740 Filter the archive through xz(1).
741 --lzip Filter the archive through lzip(1).
743 --lzma Filter the archive through lzma(1).
745 --lzop Filter the archive through lzop(1).
747 --no-auto-compress
749 Do not use archive suffix to determine the compression
750 program.
751 -z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip
753 Filter the archive through gzip(1).
754 -Z, --compress, --uncompress
756 Filter the archive through compress(1).
757 Local file selection
759 --add-file=FILE
760 Add FILE to the archive (useful if its name starts with a
761 dash).
762 --backup[=CONTROL]
764 Backup before removal. The CONTROL argument, if sup‐
765 plied, controls the backup policy. Its valid values are:
766 none, off
768 Never make backups.
769 t, numbered
771 Make numbered backups.
772 nil, existing
774 Make numbered backups if numbered backups exist,
775 simple backups otherwise.
776 never, simple
778 Always make simple backups
779 If CONTROL is not given, the value is taken from the VER‐
781 SION_CONTROL environment variable. If it is not set,
782 existing is assumed.
783 -C, --directory=DIR
785 Change to DIR before performing any operations. This
786 option is order-sensitive, i.e. it affects all options
787 that follow.
788 --exclude=PATTERN
790 Exclude files matching PATTERN, a glob(3)-style wildcard
791 pattern.
792 --exclude-backups
794 Exclude backup and lock files.
795 --exclude-caches
797 Exclude contents of directories containing file
798 CACHEDIR.TAG, except for the tag file itself.
799 --exclude-caches-all
801 Exclude directories containing file CACHEDIR.TAG and the
802 file itself.
803 --exclude-caches-under
805 Exclude everything under directories containing
806 CACHEDIR.TAG
807 --exclude-ignore=FILE
809 Before dumping a directory, see if it contains FILE. If
810 so, read exclusion patterns from this file. The patterns
811 affect only the directory itself.
812 --exclude-ignore-recursive=FILE
814 Same as --exclude-ignore, except that patterns from FILE
815 affect both the directory and all its subdirectories.
816 --exclude-tag=FILE
818 Exclude contents of directories containing FILE, except
819 for FILE itself.
820 --exclude-tag-all=FILE
822 Exclude directories containing FILE.
823 --exclude-tag-under=FILE
825 Exclude everything under directories containing FILE.
826 --exclude-vcs
828 Exclude version control system directories.
829 --exclude-vcs-ignores
831 Exclude files that match patterns read from VCS-specific
832 ignore files. Supported files are: .cvsignore, .gitig‐
833 nore, .bzrignore, and .hgignore.
834 -h, --dereference
836 Follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they point
837 to.
838 --hard-dereference
840 Follow hard links; archive and dump the files they refer
841 to.
842 -K, --starting-file=MEMBER
844 Begin at the given member in the archive.
845 --newer-mtime=DATE
847 Work on files whose data changed after the DATE. If DATE
848 starts with / or . it is taken to be a file name; the
849 mtime of that file is used as the date.
850 --no-null
852 Disable the effect of the previous --null option.
853 --no-recursion
855 Avoid descending automatically in directories.
856 --no-unquote
858 Do not unquote input file or member names.
859 --no-verbatim-files-from
861 Treat each line read from a file list as if it were sup‐
862 plied in the command line. I.e., leading and trailing
863 whitespace is removed and, if the resulting string begins
864 with a dash, it is treated as tar command line option.
865 This is the default behavior. The --no-verba‐
867 tim-files-from option is provided as a way to restore it
868 after --verbatim-files-from option.
869 This option is positional: it affects all --files-from
871 options that occur after it in, until --verba‐
872 tim-files-from option or end of line, whichever occurs
873 first.
874 It is implied by the --no-null option.
876 --null Instruct subsequent -T options to read null-terminated
878 names verbatim (disables special handling of names that
879 start with a dash).
880 See also --verbatim-files-from.
882 -N, --newer=DATE, --after-date=DATE
884 Only store files newer than DATE. If DATE starts with /
885 or . it is taken to be a file name; the ctime of that
886 file is used as the date.
887 --one-file-system
889 Stay in local file system when creating archive.
890 -P, --absolute-names
892 Don't strip leading slashes from file names when creating
893 archives.
894 --recursion
896 Recurse into directories (default).
897 --suffix=STRING
899 Backup before removal, override usual suffix. Default
900 suffix is ~, unless overridden by environment variable
901 SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.
902 -T, --files-from=FILE
904 Get names to extract or create from FILE.
905 Unless specified otherwise, the FILE must contain a list
907 of names separated by ASCII LF (i.e. one name per line).
908 The names read are handled the same way as command line
909 arguments. They undergo quote removal and word split‐
910 ting, and any string that starts with a - is handled as
911 tar command line option.
912 If this behavior is undesirable, it can be turned off
914 using the --verbatim-files-from option.
915 The --null option instructs tar that the names in FILE
917 are separated by ASCII NUL character, instead of LF. It
918 is useful if the list is generated by find(1) -print0
919 predicate.
920 --unquote
922 Unquote file or member names (default).
923 --verbatim-files-from
925 Treat each line obtained from a file list as a file name,
926 even if it starts with a dash. File lists are supplied
927 with the --files-from (-T) option. The default behavior
928 is to handle names supplied in file lists as if they were
929 typed in the command line, i.e. any names starting with a
930 dash are treated as tar options. The --verba‐
931 tim-files-from option disables this behavior.
932 This option affects all --files-from options that occur
934 after it in the command line. Its effect is reverted by
935 the --no-verbatim-files-from} option.
936 This option is implied by the --null option.
938 See also --add-file.
940 -X, --exclude-from=FILE
942 Exclude files matching patterns listed in FILE.
943 File name transformations
945 --strip-components=NUMBER
946 Strip NUMBER leading components from file names on
947 extraction.
948 --transform=EXPRESSION, --xform=EXPRESSION
950 Use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file names.
951 File name matching options
953 These options affect both exclude and include patterns.
954 --anchored
956 Patterns match file name start.
957 --ignore-case
959 Ignore case.
960 --no-anchored
962 Patterns match after any / (default for exclusion).
963 --no-ignore-case
965 Case sensitive matching (default).
966 --no-wildcards
968 Verbatim string matching.
969 --no-wildcards-match-slash
971 Wildcards do not match /.
972 --wildcards
974 Use wildcards (default for exclusion).
975 --wildcards-match-slash
977 Wildcards match / (default for exclusion).
978 Informative output
980 --checkpoint[=N]
981 Display progress messages every Nth record (default 10).
982 --checkpoint-action=ACTION
984 Run ACTION on each checkpoint.
985 --clamp-mtime
987 Only set time when the file is more recent than what was
988 given with --mtime.
989 --full-time
991 Print file time to its full resolution.
992 --index-file=FILE
994 Send verbose output to FILE.
995 -l, --check-links
997 Print a message if not all links are dumped.
998 --no-quote-chars=STRING
1000 Disable quoting for characters from STRING.
1001 --quote-chars=STRING
1003 Additionally quote characters from STRING.
1004 --quoting-style=STYLE
1006 Set quoting style for file and member names. Valid val‐
1007 ues for STYLE are literal, shell, shell-always, c, c-
1008 maybe, escape, locale, clocale.
1009 -R, --block-number
1011 Show block number within archive with each message.
1012 --show-omitted-dirs
1014 When listing or extracting, list each directory that does
1015 not match search criteria.
1016 --show-transformed-names, --show-stored-names
1018 Show file or archive names after transformation by
1019 --strip and --transform options.
1020 --totals[=SIGNAL]
1022 Print total bytes after processing the archive. If SIG‐
1023 NAL is given, print total bytes when this signal is
1024 delivered. Allowed signals are: SIGHUP, SIGQUIT, SIGINT,
1025 SIGUSR1, and SIGUSR2. The SIG prefix can be omitted.
1026 --utc Print file modification times in UTC.
1028 -v, --verbose
1030 Verbosely list files processed.
1031 --warning=KEYWORD
1033 Enable or disable warning messages identified by KEYWORD.
1034 The messages are suppressed if KEYWORD is prefixed with
1035 no- and enabled otherwise.
1036 Multiple --warning messages accumulate.
1038 Keywords controlling general tar operation:
1040 all Enable all warning messages. This is the default.
1042 none Disable all warning messages.
1044 filename-with-nuls
1046 "%s: file name read contains nul character"
1047 alone-zero-block
1049 "A lone zero block at %s"
1050 Keywords applicable for tar --create:
1052 cachedir
1054 "%s: contains a cache directory tag %s; %s"
1055 file-shrank
1057 "%s: File shrank by %s bytes; padding with zeros"
1058 xdev "%s: file is on a different filesystem; not
1060 dumped"
1061 file-ignored
1063 "%s: Unknown file type; file ignored"
1064 "%s: socket ignored"
1065 "%s: door ignored"
1066 file-unchanged
1068 "%s: file is unchanged; not dumped"
1069 ignore-archive
1071 "%s: file is the archive; not dumped"
1072 file-removed
1074 "%s: File removed before we read it"
1075 file-changed
1077 "%s: file changed as we read it"
1078 failed-read
1080 Suppresses warnings about unreadable files or
1081 directories. This keyword applies only if used
1082 together with the --ignore-failed-read option.
1083 Keywords applicable for tar --extract:
1085 existing-file
1087 "%s: skipping existing file"
1088 timestamp
1090 "%s: implausibly old time stamp %s"
1091 "%s: time stamp %s is %s s in the future"
1092 contiguous-cast
1094 "Extracting contiguous files as regular files"
1095 symlink-cast
1097 "Attempting extraction of symbolic links as hard
1098 links"
1099 unknown-cast
1101 "%s: Unknown file type '%c', extracted as normal
1102 file"
1103 ignore-newer
1105 "Current %s is newer or same age"
1106 unknown-keyword
1108 "Ignoring unknown extended header keyword '%s'"
1109 decompress-program
1111 Controls verbose description of failures occurring
1112 when trying to run alternative decompressor pro‐
1113 grams. This warning is disabled by default
1114 (unless --verbose is used). A common example of
1115 what you can get when using this warning is:
1116 $ tar --warning=decompress-program -x -f archive.Z
1118 tar (child): cannot run compress: No such file or directory
1119 tar (child): trying gzip
1120 This means that tar first tried to decompress ar‐
1122 chive.Z using compress, and, when that failed,
1123 switched to gzip.
1124 record-size
1126 "Record size = %lu blocks"
1127 Keywords controlling incremental extraction:
1129 rename-directory
1131 "%s: Directory has been renamed from %s"
1132 "%s: Directory has been renamed"
1133 new-directory
1135 "%s: Directory is new"
1136 xdev "%s: directory is on a different device: not purg‐
1138 ing"
1139 bad-dumpdir
1141 "Malformed dumpdir: 'X' never used"
1142 -w, --interactive, --confirmation
1144 Ask for confirmation for every action.
1145 Compatibility options
1147 -o When creating, same as --old-archive. When extracting,
1148 same as --no-same-owner.
1149 Size suffixes
1151 Suffix Units Byte Equivalent
1152 b Blocks SIZE x 512
1153 B Kilobytes SIZE x 1024
1154 c Bytes SIZE
1155 G Gigabytes SIZE x 1024^3
1156 K Kilobytes SIZE x 1024
1157 k Kilobytes SIZE x 1024
1158 M Megabytes SIZE x 1024^2
1159 P Petabytes SIZE x 1024^5
1160 T Terabytes SIZE x 1024^4
1161 w Words SIZE x 2
1162
1164 Tar exit code indicates whether it was able to successfully per‐
1165 form the requested operation, and if not, what kind of error
1166 occurred.
1167 0 Successful termination.
1169 1 Some files differ. If tar was invoked with the --compare
1171 (--diff, -d) command line option, this means that some
1172 files in the archive differ from their disk counterparts.
1173 If tar was given one of the --create, --append or
1174 --update options, this exit code means that some files
1175 were changed while being archived and so the resulting
1176 archive does not contain the exact copy of the file set.
1177 2 Fatal error. This means that some fatal, unrecoverable
1179 error occurred.
1180 If a subprocess that had been invoked by tar exited with a
1182 nonzero exit code, tar itself exits with that code as well.
1183 This can happen, for example, if a compression option (e.g. -z)
1184 was used and the external compressor program failed. Another
1185 example is rmt failure during backup to a remote device.
1186
1188 bzip2(1), compress(1), gzip(1), lzma(1), lzop(1), rmt(8), sym‐
1189 link(7), tar(5), xz(1).
1190 Complete tar manual: run info tar or use emacs(1) info mode to
1192 read it.
1193 Online copies of GNU tar documentation in various formats can be
1195 found at:
1196 http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual
1198
1200 Report bugs to <bug-tar@gnu.org>.
1201
1203 Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1204 License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
1205 <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
1206 This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute
1207 it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
1208TAR November 16, 2017 TAR(1)