tar - Unix, Linux Command


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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 
-f, --file F 
-j, --bzip2 
-p, --preserve-permissions 
-v, --verbose 
-z, --gzip 

All Options:
[ --atime-preserve ] [ -b, --blocking-factor N ] [ -B, --read-full-records ] [ --backup BACKUP-TYPE ] [ --block-compress ] [ -C, --directory 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-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, --absolute-names ] [ --pax-option KEYWORD-LIST ] [ --posix ] [ --preserve ] [ --acls ] [ --selinux ] [ --xattrs ] [ --no-acls ] [ --no-selinux ] [ --no-xattrs ] [ -R, --block-number ] [ --record-size SIZE ] [ --recursion ] [ --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 SUFFIX ] [ -T, --files-from F ] [ --totals ] [ -U, --unlink-first ] [ --use-compress-program PROG ] [ --utc ] [ -v, --verbose ] [ -V, --label NAME ] [ --version ] [ --volno-file F ] [ -w, --interactive, --confirmation ] [ -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

TagDescription
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

TagDescription
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

TagDescription
-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

TagDescription
--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 mismatch 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
--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 handles 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-components

--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

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

AUTHORS

Debian Linux http://www.debian.org/
Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>

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