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
-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 FILE ] [ --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 NUM ] [ --overwrite ] [ --overwrite-dir ] [ --owner USER ] [ -p, --same-permissions, --preserve-permissions ] [ -P, --absolute-names ] [ --pax-option KEYWORD-LIST ] [ --posix ] [ --preserve ] [ -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 FILE ] [ --totals ] [ -U, --unlink-first ] [ --use-compress-program PROG ] [ --utc ] [ -v, --verbose ] [ -V, --label NAME ] [ --version ] [ --volno-file FILE ] [ -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.bz2

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 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 FILE, --new-volume-script FILE
    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 FILE
    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-dateDATE, --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 NUM occurrences of each named file; used with --delete, --diff, --extract, or --list

--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

-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 FILE
    get names to extract or create from file FILE

--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 FILE
    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 Gentoo portage 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 http://bugs.gentoo.org/

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