TAR(R) TAR(R) NAME tar - The GNU version of the tar archiving utility SYNOPSIS tar [ - ] A --catenate --concatenate | c --create | d --diff --compare | r --append | t --list | u --update | x -extract --get [ --atime-preserve ] [ -b, --block-size N ] [ -B, --read-full-blocks ] [ -C, --directory DIR ] [ --checkpoint ] [ -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F ] [ --force- local ] [ -F, --info-script F --new-volume-script F ] [ -G, --incremental ] [ -g, --listed-incremental F ] [ -h, --dereference ] [ -i, --ignore-zeros ] [ -j, --bzip2 ] [ --ignore-failed-read ] [ -k, --keep-old-files ] [ -K, --starting-file F ] [ -l, --one-file-system ] [ -L, --tape-length N ] [ -m, --modification-time ] [ -M, --multi-volume ] [ -N, --after-date DATE, --newer DATE ] [ -o, --old-archive, --portability ] [ -O, --to-stdout ] [ -p, --same-permissions, --preserve-permissions ] [ -P, --absolute-names ] [ --preserve ] [ -R, --record-num- ber ] [ --remove-files ] [ -s, --same-order, --preserve- order ] [ --same-owner ] [ --numeric-owner ] [ -S, --sparse ] [ -T, --files-from F ] [ --null ] [ --totals ] [ -v, --verbose ] [ -V, --label NAME ] [ --version ] [ -w, --interactive, --confirmation ] [ -W, --verify ] [ --exclude=FILE ] [ -X, --exclude-from FILE ] [ -Z, --compress, --uncompress ] [ -z, --gzip, --ungzip ] [ --use-compress-program PROG ] [ --block- compress ] [ --rsh-command=CMD ] [ -[0-7][lmh] ] filename1 [ filename2, ... filenameN ] directory1 [ directory2, ...directoryN ] 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 -xvvf foo.tar extract foo.tar tar -xvvzf foo.tar.gz extract gzipped foo.tar.gz tar -cvvf foo.tar foo/ tar contents of folder foo in foo.tar 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 --delete delete from the archive (not for use on mag tapes!) -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 copy in archive -x, --extract, --get extract files from an archive OTHER OPTIONS --atime-preserve don't change access times on dumped files -b, --block-size N block size of Nx512 bytes (default N=20) -B, --read-full-blocks reblock as we read (for reading 4.2BSD pipes) -C, --directory DIR change to directory DIR --checkpoint print directory names while reading the archive -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F use archive file or device F (default "-", meaning stdin/stdout) --force-local archive file is local even if has a colon -F, --info-script F --new-volume-script F run script at end of each tape (implies -M) -G, --incremental create/list/extract old GNU-format incremental backup -g, --listed-incremental F create/list/extract new GNU-format incremental backup -h, --dereference don't dump symlinks; dump the files they point to -i, --ignore-zeros ignore blocks of zeros in archive (normally mean EOF) -j, --bzip2 filter archive through bzip2, use to decompress .bz2 files. WARNING: some previous versions of tar used option -I to filter through bzip2. When writing scripts, use --bzip2 instead of -j so that both older and newer tar versions will work. --ignore-failed-read don't exit with non-zero status on unreadable 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 -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, --modification-time don't extract file modified time -M, --multi-volume create/list/extract multi-volume archive -N, --after-date DATE, --newer DATE only store files newer than DATE -o, --old-archive, --portability write a V7 format archive, rather than ANSI format -O, --to-stdout extract files to standard output -p, --same-permissions, --preserve-permissions extract all protection information -P, --absolute-paths don't strip leading `/'s from file names --preserve like -p -s -R, --record-number show record number within archive with each message --remove-files remove files after adding them to the archive -s, --same-order, --preserve-order list of names to extract is sorted to match archive --same-owner create extracted files with the same ownership --numeric-owner always use numbers for user/group names -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently -T, --files-from F get names to extract or create from file F --null -T reads null-terminated names, disable -C --totals print total bytes written with --create -v, --verbose verbosely list files processed -V, --label NAME create archive with volume name NAME --version print tar program version number -w, --interactive, --confirmation ask for confirmation for every action -W, --verify attempt to verify the archive after writing it --exclude=FILE exclude file FILE -X, --exclude-from FILE exclude files listed in FILE -Z, --compress, --uncompress filter the archive through compress -z, --gzip, --ungzip filter the archive through gzip --use-compress-program PROG filter the archive through PROG (which must accept -d) --block-compress block the output of compression program for tapes --rsh-command=CMD Use remote COMMAND instead of `rsh'. This option exists so that people who use something other than the standard `rsh' (e.g., a Kerberized `rsh') can access a remote device. -[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. This man page is neither complete, nor current, and was included in the Debian Linux packaging of tar entirely to reduce the frequency with which the lack of a man page gets reported as a bug in our defect track- ing system. If you really want to understand tar, then you should run info and read the tar info pages, or use the info mode in emacs. 22 September 1993 TAR(R)