TAR(1)				      tar				TAR(1)

NAME

tar - The GNU version of the tar archiving utility

SYNOPSIS

tar <operation> [options] Operations: [-]A --catenate --concatenate [-]c --create [-]d --diff --compare [-]r --append [-]t --list [-]u --update [-]x --extract --get --delete Common Options: -C, --directory DIR -v, --verbose -j, --bzip2 -p, --preserve-permissions -f, --file F -z, --gzip All Options: [ --atime-preserve ] [ -b, --blocking-factor N ] [ -B, --read-full- records ] [ --backup BACKUP-TYPE ] [ --block-compress ] [ -C, --direc- tory DIR ] [ --check-links ] [ --checkpoint ] [ -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F ] [ -F, --info-script F --new-volume-script F ] [ --force-local ] [ --format FORMAT ] [ -g, --listed-incremental F ] [ -G, --incremental ] [ --group GROUP ] [ -h, --dereference ] [ --help ] [ -i, --ignore-zeros ] [ --ignore-case ] [ --ignore-failed-read ] [ --index-file FILE ] [ -j, --bzip2 ] [ -k, --keep-old-files ] [ -K, --starting-file F ] [ --keep-newer-files ] [ -l, --one-file-system ] [ -L, --tape-length N ] [ -m, --touch, --modification-time ] [ -M, --multi-volume ] [ --mode PERMISSIONS ] [ -N, --after-date DATE, --newer DATE ] [ --newer-mtime DATE ] [ --no-anchored ] [ --no-ignore-case ] [ --no-overwrite-dir ] [ --no-recursion ] [ --no-same-permissions ] [ --no-wildcards ] [ --no- wildcards-match-slash ] [ --null ] [ --numeric-owner ] [ -o, --old- archive, --portability, --no-same-owner ] [ -O, --to-stdout ] [ --occurrence[=NUMBER] ] [ --overwrite ] [ --overwrite-dir ] [ --owner USER ] [ -p, --same-permissions, --preserve-permissions ] [ -P, --abso- lute-names ] [ --pax-option KEYWORD-LIST ] [ --posix ] [ --preserve ] [ --acls ] [ --selinux ] [ --xattrs ] [ --no-acls ] [ --no-selinux ] [ --no-xattrs ] [ -R, --block-number ] [ --record-size SIZE ] [ --recur- sion ] [ --recursive-unlink ] [ --remove-files ] [ --rmt-command CMD ] [ --rsh-command CMD ] [ -s, --same-order, --preserve-order ] [ -S, --sparse ] [ --same-owner ] [ --show-defaults ] [ --show-omitted-dirs ] [ --strip-components NUMBER, --strip-path NUMBER (1) ] [ --suffix SUF- FIX ] [ -T, --files-from F ] [ --totals ] [ -U, --unlink-first ] [ --use-compress-program PROG ] [ --utc ] [ -v, --verbose ] [ -V, --label NAME ] [ --version ] [ --volno-file F ] [ -w, --interactive, --confir- mation ] [ -W, --verify ] [ --wildcards ] [ --wildcards-match-slash ] [ --exclude PATTERN ] [ -X, --exclude-from FILE ] [ -Z, --compress, --uncompress ] [ -z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip ] [ -[0-7][lmh] ] (1) tar-1.14 uses --strip-path, tar-1.14.90+ uses --strip-components

DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents the GNU version of tar, an archiving program designed to store and extract files from an archive file known as a tarfile. A tarfile may be made on a tape drive, however, it is also common to write a tarfile to a normal file. The first argument to tar must be one of the options Acdrtux, followed by any optional functions. The final arguments to tar are the names of the files or directories which should be archived. The use of a directory name always implies that the subdirectories below should be included in the archive.

EXAMPLES

tar -xvf foo.tar verbosely extract foo.tar tar -xzf foo.tar.gz extract gzipped foo.tar.gz tar -cjf foo.tar.bz2 bar/ create bzipped tar archive of the directory bar called foo.tar.bz2 tar -xjf foo.tar.bz2 -C bar/ extract bzipped foo.tar.bz2 after changing directory to bar tar -xzf foo.tar.gz blah.txt extract the file blah.txt from foo.tar.gz

FUNCTION LETTERS

One of the following options must be used: -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 -r, --append append files to the end of an archive -t, --list list the contents of an archive -u, --update only append files that are newer than the existing in archive -x, --extract, --get extract files from an archive --delete delete from the archive (not for use on mag tapes!)

COMMON OPTIONS

-C, --directory DIR change to directory DIR -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F use archive file or device F (default "-", meaning stdin/stdout) -j, --bzip2 filter archive through bzip2, use to decompress .bz2 files -p, --preserve-permissions extract all protection information -v, --verbose verbosely list files processed -z, --gzip, --ungzip filter the archive through gzip

ALL OPTIONS

--atime-preserve don't change access times on dumped files -b, --blocking-factor N block size of Nx512 bytes (default N=20) -B, --read-full-blocks reblock as we read (for reading 4.2BSD pipes) --backup BACKUP-TYPE backup files instead of deleting them using BACKUP-TYPE simple or numbered --block-compress block the output of compression program for tapes -C, --directory DIR change to directory DIR --check-links warn if number of hard links to the file on the filesystem mis- match the number of links recorded in the archive --checkpoint print directory names while reading the archive -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F use archive file or device F (default "-", meaning stdin/stdout) -F, --info-script F --new-volume-script F run script at end of each tape (implies --multi-volume) --force-local archive file is local even if has a colon --format FORMAT selects output archive format v7 - Unix V7 oldgnu - GNU tar <=1.12 gnu - GNU tar 1.13 ustar - POSIX.1-1988 posix - POSIX.1-2001 -g, --listed-incremental F create/list/extract new GNU-format incremental backup -G, --incremental create/list/extract old GNU-format incremental backup -h, --dereference don't dump symlinks; dump the files they point to --help like this manpage, but not as cool -i, --ignore-zeros ignore blocks of zeros in archive (normally mean EOF) --ignore-case ignore case when excluding files --ignore-failed-read don't exit with non-zero status on unreadable files --index-file FILE send verbose output to FILE instead of stdout -j, --bzip2 filter archive through bzip2, use to decompress .bz2 files -k, --keep-old-files keep existing files; don't overwrite them from archive -K, --starting-file F begin at file F in the archive --keep-newer-files do not overwrite files which are newer than the archive -l, --one-file-system stay in local file system when creating an archive -L, --tape-length N change tapes after writing N*1024 bytes -m, --touch, --modification-time don't extract file modified time -M, --multi-volume create/list/extract multi-volume archive --mode PERMISSIONS apply PERMISSIONS while adding files (see chmod(1)) -N, --after-date DATE, --newer DATE only store files newer than DATE --newer-mtime DATE like --newer, but with a DATE --no-anchored match any subsequenceof the name's components with --exclude --no-ignore-case use case-sensitive matching with --exclude --no-recursion don't recurse into directories --no-same-permissions apply user's umask when extracting files instead of recorded permissions --no-wildcards don't use wildcards with --exclude --no-wildcards-match-slash wildcards do not match slashes (/) with --exclude --null --files-from reads null-terminated names, disable --directory --numeric-owner always use numbers for user/group names -o, --old-archive, --portability like --format=v7; -o exhibits this behavior when creating an archive (deprecated behavior) -o, --no-same-owner do not attempt to restore ownership when extracting; -o exhibits this behavior when extracting an archive -O, --to-stdout extract files to standard output --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 --no-overwrite-dir preserve metadata of existing directories --overwrite overwrite existing files and directory metadata when extracting --overwrite-dir overwrite directory metadata when extracting --owner USER change owner of extraced files to USER -p, --same-permissions, --preserve-permissions extract all protection information -P, --absolute-names don't strip leading '/'s from file names --pax-option KEYWORD-LIST used only with POSIX.1-2001 archives to modify the way tar han- dles extended header keywords --posix like --format=posix --preserve like --preserve-permissions --same-order --acls this option causes tar to store each file's ACLs in the archive. --selinux this option causes tar to store each file's SELinux security context information in the archive. --xattrs this option causes tar to store each file's extended attributes in the archive. This option also enables --acls and--selinux if they haven't been set already, due to the fact that the data for those are stored in special xattrs. --no-acls This option causes tar not to store each file's ACLs in the archive and not to extract any ACL information in an archive. --no-selinux this option causes tar not to store each file's SELinux security context information in the archive and not to extract any SELinux information in an archive. --no-xattrs this option causes tar not to store each file's extended attributes in the archive and not to extract any extended attributes in an archive. This option also enables --no-acls and --no-selinux if they haven't been set already. -R, --record-number show record number within archive with each message --record-size SIZE use SIZE bytes per record when accessing archives --recursion recurse into directories --recursive-unlink remove existing directories before extracting directories of the same name --remove-files remove files after adding them to the archive --rmt-command CMD use CMD instead of the default /usr/sbin/rmt --rsh-command CMD use remote CMD instead of rsh(1) -s, --same-order, --preserve-order list of names to extract is sorted to match archive -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently --same-owner create extracted files with the same ownership --show-defaults display the default options used by tar --show-omitted-dirs print directories tar skips while operating on an archive --strip-components NUMBER, --strip-path NUMBER strip NUMBER of leading components from file names before extraction (1) tar-1.14 uses --strip-path, tar-1.14.90+ uses --strip-compo- nents --suffix SUFFIX use SUFFIX instead of default '~' when backing up files -T, --files-from F get names to extract or create from file F --totals print total bytes written with --create -U, --unlink-first remove existing files before extracting files of the same name --use-compress-program PROG access the archive through PROG which is generally a compression program --utc display file modification dates in UTC -v, --verbose verbosely list files processed -V, --label NAME create archive with volume name NAME --version print tar program version number --volno-file F keep track of which volume of a multi-volume archive its working in FILE; used with --multi-volume -w, --interactive, --confirmation ask for confirmation for every action -W, --verify attempt to verify the archive after writing it --wildcards use wildcards with --exclude --wildcards-match-slash wildcards match slashes (/) with --exclude --exclude PATTERN exclude files based upon PATTERN -X, --exclude-from FILE exclude files listed in FILE -Z, --compress, --uncompress filter the archive through compress -z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip filter the archive through gzip --use-compress-program PROG filter the archive through PROG (which must accept -d) -[0-7][lmh] specify drive and density

BUGS

The GNU folks, in general, abhor man pages, and create info documents instead. The maintainer of tar falls into this category. Thus this man page may not be complete, nor current, and was included in the Red Hat CVS tree because man is a great tool :). This man page was first taken from Debian Linux and has since been loving updated here.

REPORTING BUGS

Please report bugs via https://bugzilla.redhat.com

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 com- mand info tar should give you access to the complete manual.

AUTHORS

Debian Linux http://www.debian.org/ Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org> GNU Oct 2004 TAR(1)