• 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 ] [ -l, --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 ] [ --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 ] [ --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
• 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 command 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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