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man page(1) manual page Table of Contents

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-fullrecords ] [ --backup BACKUP-TYPE ] [ --block-compress ] [ -C, --directory DIR ] [ -l, --check-links ] [ --checkpoint ] [ -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F ] [ -F, --info-script F --new-volume-script F ] [ --forcelocal ] [ --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 ] [ --one-file-system ] [ -L, --tape-length N ] [ -m, --touch, --modification-time ] [ -M, --multivolume ] [ --mode PERMISSIONS ] [ -N, --after-date DATE, --newer DATE ] [ --newer-mtime DATE ] [ --no-anchored ] [ --no-ignore-case ] [ --norecursion ] [ --no-same-permissions ] [ --no-wildcards ] [ --no-wildcards-match-slash

] [ --null: ] [ --numeric-owner ] [ -o, --oldarchive, --portability, --no-same-owner ] [ -O, --to-stdout ] [ --occurrence[=NUM] ] [ --overwrite ] [ --overwrite-dir ] [ --owner USER ] [ -p, --same-permissions, --preserve-permissions ] [ -P, --absolutenames ] [ --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

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). Note that “/dev/stdout” is not equivalent to “-". Using “/dev/stdout” explicitly can lead to corrupted archive, especially when coupled with “-v".
-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
-l, --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). Note that “/dev/stdout” is not equivalent to “-". Using “/dev/stdout” explicitly can lead to corrupted archive, especially when coupled with “-v".
-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
--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[=NUM]: process only the NUMth occurrence of each named file; used with --delete, --diff, --extract, or --list. NUM 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

Authors

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

Table of Contents

Name
Synopsis
Description
Examples
Function Letters
Common Options
All Options
Bugs
Reporting Bugs
See Also
Authors

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