man > TAR(1)

TLDR: TAR (tldr-pages)

Archiving utility.

  • create an archive and write it to a file
    tar cf {{path/to/target.tar}} {{path/to/file1 path/to/file2 ...}}
  • create a gzipped archive and write it to a file
    tar czf {{path/to/target.tar.gz}} {{path/to/file1 path/to/file2 ...}}
  • create a gzipped (compressed) archive from a directory using relative paths
    tar czf {{path/to/target.tar.gz}} {{-C|--directory}} {{path/to/directory}} .
  • Extract a (compressed) archive file into the current directory verbosely
    tar xvf {{path/to/source.tar[.gz|.bz2|.xz}}
  • Extract a (compressed) archive file into the target directory
    tar xf {{path/to/source.tar[.gz|.bz2|.xz}} {{-C|--directory}} {{path/to/directory}}
  • create a compressed archive and write it to a file, using the file extension to automatically determine the compression program
    tar caf {{path/to/target.tar.xz}} {{path/to/file1 path/to/file2 ...}}
  • List the contents of a tar file verbosely
    tar tvf {{path/to/source.tar}}
  • Extract files matching a pattern from an archive file
    tar xf {{path/to/source.tar}} --wildcards "{{*.html}}"
TAR(1)                                     GNU TAR Manual                                     TAR(1)

NAME
       tar - an archiving utility

SYNOPSIS
   Traditional usage
       tar {A|c|d|r|t|u|x}[GnSkUWOmpsMBiajJzZhPlRvwo] [ARG...]

   UNIX-style usage
       tar -A [OPTIONS] -f ARCHIVE ARCHIVE...

       tar -c [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar -d [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar -r [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar -t [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

       tar -u [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar -x [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

   GNU-style usage
       tar {--catenate|--concatenate} [OPTIONS] --file ARCHIVE ARCHIVE...

       tar --create [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar {--diff|--compare} [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar --delete [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

       tar --append [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar --list [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

       tar --test-label [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [LABEL...]

       tar --update [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar {--extract|--get} [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

NOTE
       This  manpage  is a short description of GNU tar.  For a detailed discussion, including exam‐
       ples and usage recommendations, refer to the GNU Tar Manual available in texinfo format.   If
       the info reader and the tar documentation are properly installed on your system, the command

           info tar

       should give you access to the complete manual.

       You  can  also view the manual using the info mode in emacs(1), or find it in various formats
       online at

           https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual

       If any discrepancies occur between this manpage and the GNU Tar Manual, the  later  shall  be
       considered the authoritative source.

DESCRIPTION
       GNU  tar  is  an  archiving  program  designed  to  store multiple files in a single file (an
       archive), and to manipulate such archives.  The archive can be either a regular file or a de‐
       vice (e.g. a tape drive, hence the name of the program,  which  stands  for  tape  archiver),
       which can be located either on the local or on a remote machine.

   Option styles
       Options  to  GNU tar can be given in three different styles.  In traditional style, the first
       argument is a cluster of option letters and all  subsequent  arguments  supply  arguments  to
       those options that require them.  The arguments are read in the same order as the option let‐
       ters.   Any  command line words that remain after all options have been processed are treated
       as non-option arguments: file or archive member names.

       For example, the c option requires creating the archive, the v option  requests  the  verbose
       operation,  and  the  f option takes an argument that sets the name of the archive to operate
       upon.  The following command, written in the traditional style, instructs tar  to  store  all
       files  from the directory /etc into the archive file etc.tar, verbosely listing the files be‐
       ing archived:

       tar cfv etc.tar /etc

       In UNIX or short-option style, each option letter is prefixed with a single dash, as in other
       command line utilities.  If an option takes an argument, the argument follows it, either as a
       separate command line word, or immediately following the  option.   However,  if  the  option
       takes  an optional argument, the argument must follow the option letter without any interven‐
       ing whitespace, as in -g/tmp/snar.db.

       Any number of options not taking arguments can be clustered together  after  a  single  dash,
       e.g.  -vkp.   An  option that takes an argument (whether mandatory or optional) can appear at
       the end of such a cluster, e.g. -vkpf a.tar.

       The example command above written in the short-option style could look like:

       tar -cvf etc.tar /etc
       or
       tar -c -v -f etc.tar /etc

       In GNU or long-option style, each option begins with two dashes and has  a  meaningful  name,
       consisting  of  lower-case letters and dashes.  When used, the long option can be abbreviated
       to its initial letters, provided that this does not create ambiguity.  Arguments to long  op‐
       tions  are supplied either as a separate command line word, immediately following the option,
       or separated from the option by an equals sign with no intervening whitespace.  Optional  ar‐
       guments must always use the latter method.

       Here are several ways of writing the example command in this style:

       tar --create --file etc.tar --verbose /etc
       or (abbreviating some options):
       tar --cre --file=etc.tar --verb /etc

       The  options in all three styles can be intermixed, although doing so with old options is not
       encouraged.

   Operation mode
       The options listed in the table below tell GNU tar what operation it is to perform.   Exactly
       one of them must be given.  The meaning of non-option arguments depends on the operation mode
       requested.

       -A, --catenate, --concatenate
              Append archives to the end of another archive.  The arguments are treated as the names
              of  archives  to  append.  All archives must be of the same format as the archive they
              are appended to, otherwise the resulting archive might be unusable with non-GNU imple‐
              mentations of tar.  Notice also that when more than one archive is given, the  members
              from  archives  other  than  the first one will be accessible in the resulting archive
              only when using the -i (--ignore-zeros) option.

              Compressed archives cannot be concatenated.

       -c, --create
              Create a new archive.  Arguments supply the names of the files to be archived.  Direc‐
              tories are archived recursively, unless the --no-recursion option is given.

       -d, --diff, --compare
              Find differences between archive and file system.   The  arguments  are  optional  and
              specify  archive  members  to compare.  If not given, the current working directory is
              assumed.

       --delete
              Delete from the archive.  The arguments supply names of the archive members to be  re‐
              moved.  At least one argument must be given.

              This option does not operate on compressed archives.  There is no short option equiva‐
              lent.

       -r, --append
              Append  files  to  the  end  of an archive.  Arguments have the same meaning as for -c
              (--create).

       -t, --list
              List the contents of an archive.  Arguments are optional.  When  given,  they  specify
              the names of the members to list.

       --test-label
              Test  the  archive  volume label and exit.  When used without arguments, it prints the
              volume label (if any) and exits with status 0.  When one or more  command  line  argu‐
              ments  are  given.   tar  compares the volume label with each argument.  It exits with
              code 0 if a match is found, and with code 1 otherwise.  No output is displayed, unless
              used together with the -v (--verbose) option.

              There is no short option equivalent for this option.

       -u, --update
              Append files which are newer than the corresponding copy in  the  archive.   Arguments
              have  the  same meaning as with the -c and -r options.  Notice, that newer files don't
              replace their old archive copies, but instead are appended to the end of archive.  The
              resulting archive can thus contain several members of the same name, corresponding  to
              various versions of the same file.

       -x, --extract, --get
              Extract  files  from  an  archive.   Arguments are optional.  When given, they specify
              names of the archive members to be extracted.

       --show-defaults
              Show built-in defaults for various tar options and exit.

       -?, --help
              Display a short option summary and exit.

       --usage
              Display a list of available options and exit.

       --version
              Print program version and copyright information and exit.

OPTIONS
   Operation modifiers
       --check-device
              Check device numbers when creating incremental archives (default).

       -g, --listed-incremental=FILE
              Handle new GNU-format incremental backups.  FILE is the name of a snapshot file, where
              tar stores additional information which is used to decide which  files  changed  since
              the  previous  incremental dump and, consequently, must be dumped again.  If FILE does
              not exist when creating an archive, it will be created and all files will be added  to
              the  resulting archive (the level 0 dump).  To create incremental archives of non-zero
              level N, you need a copy of the snapshot file created for level N-1,  and  use  it  as
              FILE.

              When  listing or extracting, the actual content of FILE is not inspected, it is needed
              only due to  syntactical  requirements.   It  is  therefore  common  practice  to  use
              /dev/null in its place.

       --hole-detection=METHOD
              Use METHOD to detect holes in sparse files.  This option implies --sparse.  Valid val‐
              ues  for  METHOD  are seek and raw.  Default is seek with fallback to raw when not ap‐
              plicable.

       -G, --incremental
              Handle old GNU-format incremental backups.

       --ignore-failed-read
              Do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files.

       --level=NUMBER
              Set dump level for a created listed-incremental archive.  Currently only --level=0  is
              meaningful:  it  instructs  tar  to truncate the snapshot file before dumping, thereby
              forcing a level 0 dump.

       -n, --seek
              Assume the archive is seekable.  Normally tar  determines  automatically  whether  the
              archive  can  be  seeked  or  not.  This option is intended for use in cases when such
              recognition fails.  It takes effect only if the archive is open for reading (e.g. with
              --list or --extract options).

       --no-check-device
              Do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives.

       --no-seek
              Assume the archive is not seekable.

       --occurrence[=N]
              Process only the Nth occurrence of each file in the archive.   This  option  is  valid
              only  when  used with one of the following subcommands: --delete, --diff, --extract or
              --list and when a list of files is given either on the command line or via the -T  op‐
              tion.  The default N is 1.

       --restrict
              Disable the use of some potentially harmful options.

       --sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR]
              Set  which  version of the sparse format to use.  This option implies --sparse.  Valid
              argument values are 0.0, 0.1, and 1.0.  For a detailed discussion of  sparse  formats,
              refer  to the GNU Tar Manual, appendix D, "Sparse Formats".  Using the info reader, it
              can be accessed running the following command: info tar 'Sparse Formats'.

       -S, --sparse
              Handle sparse files efficiently.  Some files in the  file  system  may  have  segments
              which  were  actually  never  written (quite often these are database files created by
              such systems as DBM).  When given this option, tar attempts to determine if  the  file
              is  sparse  prior  to archiving it, and if so, to reduce the resulting archive size by
              not dumping empty parts of the file.

   Overwrite control
       These options control tar actions when extracting a file over an existing copy on disk.

       -k, --keep-old-files
              Don't replace existing files when extracting.

       --keep-newer-files
              Don't replace existing files that are newer than their archive copies.

       --keep-directory-symlink
              Don't replace existing symlinks to directories when extracting.

       --no-overwrite-dir
              Preserve metadata of existing directories.

       --one-top-level[=DIR]
              Extract all files into DIR, or, if used without argument, into a subdirectory named by
              the base name of the archive (minus  standard  compression  suffixes  recognizable  by
              --auto-compress).

       --overwrite
              Overwrite existing files when extracting.

       --overwrite-dir
              Overwrite metadata of existing directories when extracting (default).

       --recursive-unlink
              Recursively remove all files in the directory prior to extracting it.

       --remove-files
              Remove files from disk after adding them to the archive.

       --skip-old-files
              Don't replace existing files when extracting, silently skip over them.

       -U, --unlink-first
              Remove each file prior to extracting over it.

       -W, --verify
              Verify the archive after writing it.

   Output stream selection
       --ignore-command-error
              Ignore subprocess exit codes.

       --no-ignore-command-error
              Treat non-zero exit codes of children as error (default).

       -O, --to-stdout
              Extract files to standard output.

       --to-command=COMMAND
              Pipe extracted files to COMMAND.  The argument is the pathname of an external program,
              optionally  with command line arguments.  The program will be invoked and the contents
              of the file being extracted supplied to it on its  standard  input.   Additional  data
              will be supplied via the following environment variables:

              TAR_FILETYPE
                     Type of the file. It is a single letter with the following meaning:

                             f           Regular file
                             d           Directory
                             l           Symbolic link
                             h           Hard link
                             b           Block device
                             c           Character device

                     Currently only regular files are supported.

              TAR_MODE
                     File mode, an octal number.

              TAR_FILENAME
                     The name of the file.

              TAR_REALNAME
                     Name of the file as stored in the archive.

              TAR_UNAME
                     Name of the file owner.

              TAR_GNAME
                     Name of the file owner group.

              TAR_ATIME
                     Time  of  last  access.  It is a decimal number, representing seconds since the
                     Epoch.  If the archive provides times with nanosecond precision,  the  nanosec‐
                     onds are appended to the timestamp after a decimal point.

              TAR_MTIME
                     Time of last modification.

              TAR_CTIME
                     Time of last status change.

              TAR_SIZE
                     Size of the file.

              TAR_UID
                     UID of the file owner.

              TAR_GID
                     GID of the file owner.

              Additionally, the following variables contain information about tar operation mode and
              the archive being processed:

              TAR_VERSION
                     GNU tar version number.

              TAR_ARCHIVE
                     The name of the archive tar is processing.

              TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR
                     Current blocking factor, i.e. number of 512-byte blocks in a record.

              TAR_VOLUME
                     Ordinal  number  of the volume tar is processing (set if reading a multi-volume
                     archive).

              TAR_FORMAT
                     Format of the archive being processed.  One of: gnu, oldgnu, posix, ustar, v7.

              TAR_SUBCOMMAND
                     A short option (with a leading dash) describing the operation tar is executing.

   Handling of file attributes
       --atime-preserve[=METHOD]
              Preserve access times on dumped files, either by restoring  the  times  after  reading
              (METHOD=replace,  this  is the default) or by not setting the times in the first place
              (METHOD=system).

       --delay-directory-restore
              Delay setting modification times and permissions of extracted  directories  until  the
              end  of extraction.  Use this option when extracting from an archive which has unusual
              member ordering.

       --group=NAME[:GID]
              Force NAME as group for added files.  If GID is not supplied, NAME  can  be  either  a
              user  name  or  numeric  GID.  In this case the missing part (GID or name) will be in‐
              ferred from the current host's group database.

              When used with --group-map=FILE, affects only those files whose  owner  group  is  not
              listed in FILE.

       --group-map=FILE
              Read  group  translation map from FILE.  Empty lines are ignored.  Comments are intro‐
              duced with # sign and extend to the end of line.  Each non-empty line in FILE  defines
              translation  for  a  single  group.   It  must consist of two fields, delimited by any
              amount of whitespace:

              OLDGRP NEWGRP[:NEWGID]

              OLDGRP is either a valid group name or a GID prefixed with +.  Unless NEWGID  is  sup‐
              plied,  NEWGRP must also be either a valid group name or a +GID.  Otherwise, both NEW‐
              GRP and NEWGID need not be listed in the system group database.

              As a result, each input file with owner group OLDGRP will be stored  in  archive  with
              owner group NEWGRP and GID NEWGID.

       --mode=CHANGES
              Force symbolic mode CHANGES for added files.

       --mtime=DATE-OR-FILE
              Set  mtime  for  added  files.  DATE-OR-FILE is either a date/time in almost arbitrary
              format, or the name of an existing file.  In the latter case the mtime  of  that  file
              will be used.

       -m, --touch
              Don't extract file modified time.

       --no-delay-directory-restore
              Cancel the effect of the prior --delay-directory-restore option.

       --no-same-owner
              Extract files as yourself (default for ordinary users).

       --no-same-permissions
              Apply the user's umask when extracting permissions from the archive (default for ordi‐
              nary users).

       --numeric-owner
              Always use numbers for user/group names.

       --owner=NAME[:UID]
              Force  NAME  as  owner  for added files.  If UID is not supplied, NAME can be either a
              user name or numeric UID.  In this case the missing part (UID or  name)  will  be  in‐
              ferred from the current host's user database.

              When used with --owner-map=FILE, affects only those files whose owner is not listed in
              FILE.

       --owner-map=FILE
              Read  owner  translation map from FILE.  Empty lines are ignored.  Comments are intro‐
              duced with # sign and extend to the end of line.  Each non-empty line in FILE  defines
              translation  for a single UID.  It must consist of two fields, delimited by any amount
              of whitespace:

              OLDUSR NEWUSR[:NEWUID]

              OLDUSR is either a valid user name or a UID prefixed with +.  Unless  NEWUID  is  sup‐
              plied, NEWUSR must also be either a valid user name or a +UID.  Otherwise, both NEWUSR
              and NEWUID need not be listed in the system user database.

              As a result, each input file owned by OLDUSR will be stored in archive with owner name
              NEWUSR and UID NEWUID.

       -p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions
              Set permissions of extracted files to those recorded in the archive (default for supe‐
              ruser).

       --same-owner
              Try extracting files with the same ownership as exists in the archive (default for su‐
              peruser).

       -s, --preserve-order, --same-order
              Tell  tar  that  the  list of file names to process is sorted in the same order as the
              files in the archive.

       --sort=ORDER
              When creating an archive, sort directory entries according to ORDER, which is  one  of
              none, name, or inode.

              The default is --sort=none, which stores archive members in the same order as returned
              by the operating system.

              Using  --sort=name  ensures  the member ordering in the created archive is uniform and
              reproducible.

              Using --sort=inode reduces the number of disk seeks made when creating the archive and
              thus can considerably speed up archivation.  This sorting order is supported  only  if
              the underlying system provides the necessary information.

   Extended file attributes
       --acls Enable POSIX ACLs support.

       --no-acls
              Disable POSIX ACLs support.

       --selinux
              Enable SELinux context support.

       --no-selinux
              Disable SELinux context support.

       --xattrs
              Enable extended attributes support.

       --no-xattrs
              Disable extended attributes support.

       --xattrs-exclude=PATTERN
              Specify  the  exclude  pattern  for  xattr  keys.  PATTERN is a globbing pattern, e.g.
              --xattrs-exclude='user.*' to include only attributes from the user namespace.

       --xattrs-include=PATTERN
              Specify the include pattern for xattr keys.  PATTERN is a globbing pattern.

   Device selection and switching
       -f, --file=ARCHIVE
              Use archive file or device ARCHIVE.  If this option is not given, tar will first exam‐
              ine the environment variable `TAPE'.  If it is set, its value  will  be  used  as  the
              archive  name.  Otherwise, tar will assume the compiled-in default.  The default value
              can be inspected either using the --show-defaults option, or at the  end  of  the  tar
              --help output.

              An archive name that has a colon in it specifies a file or device on a remote machine.
              The part before the colon is taken as the machine name or IP address, and the part af‐
              ter it as the file or device pathname, e.g.:

              --file=remotehost:/dev/sr0

              An optional username can be prefixed to the hostname, placing a @ sign between them.

              By default, the remote host is accessed via the rsh(1) command.  Nowadays it is common
              to use ssh(1) instead.  You can do so by giving the following command line option:

              --rsh-command=/usr/bin/ssh

              The remote machine should have the rmt(8) command installed.  If its pathname does not
              match  tar's  default,  you  can  inform  tar  about  the  correct  pathname using the
              --rmt-command option.

       --force-local
              Archive file is local even if it has a colon.

       -F, --info-script=COMMAND, --new-volume-script=COMMAND
              Run COMMAND at the end of each tape (implies -M).  The command can include  arguments.
              When started, it will inherit tar's environment plus the following variables:

              TAR_VERSION
                     GNU tar version number.

              TAR_ARCHIVE
                     The name of the archive tar is processing.

              TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR
                     Current blocking factor, i.e. number of 512-byte blocks in a record.

              TAR_VOLUME
                     Ordinal  number  of the volume tar is processing (set if reading a multi-volume
                     archive).

              TAR_FORMAT
                     Format of the archive being processed.  One of: gnu, oldgnu, posix, ustar, v7.

              TAR_SUBCOMMAND
                     A short option (with a leading dash) describing the operation tar is executing.

              TAR_FD File descriptor which can be used to communicate the new volume name to tar.

              If the info script fails, tar exits; otherwise, it begins writing the next volume.

       -L, --tape-length=N
              Change tape after writing Nx1024 bytes.  If N is followed by a size  suffix  (see  the
              subsection  Size suffixes below), the suffix specifies the multiplicative factor to be
              used instead of 1024.

              This option implies -M.

       -M, --multi-volume
              Create/list/extract multi-volume archive.

       --rmt-command=COMMAND
              Use COMMAND instead of rmt when accessing remote archives.  See the description of the
              -f option, above.

       --rsh-command=COMMAND
              Use COMMAND instead of rsh when accessing remote archives.  See the description of the
              -f option, above.

       --volno-file=FILE
              When this option is used in conjunction with --multi-volume, tar will  keep  track  of
              which volume of a multi-volume archive it is working in FILE.

   Device blocking
       -b, --blocking-factor=BLOCKS
              Set record size to BLOCKSx512 bytes.

       -B, --read-full-records
              When listing or extracting, accept incomplete input records after end-of-file marker.

       -i, --ignore-zeros
              Ignore  zeroed blocks in archive.  Normally two consecutive 512-blocks filled with ze‐
              roes mean EOF and tar stops reading after encountering them.  This option instructs it
              to read further and is useful when reading archives created with the -A option.

       --record-size=NUMBER
              Set record size.  NUMBER is the number of bytes per record.  It must  be  multiple  of
              512.   It can can be suffixed with a size suffix, e.g. --record-size=10K, for 10 Kilo‐
              bytes.  See the subsection Size suffixes, for a list of valid suffixes.

   Archive format selection
       -H, --format=FORMAT
              Create archive of the given format.  Valid formats are:

              gnu    GNU tar 1.13.x format

              oldgnu GNU format as per tar <= 1.12.

              pax, posix
                     POSIX 1003.1-2001 (pax) format.

              ustar  POSIX 1003.1-1988 (ustar) format.

              v7     Old V7 tar format.

       --old-archive, --portability
              Same as --format=v7.

       --pax-option=keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value]]...
              Control pax keywords when creating PAX archives (-H pax).  This option  is  equivalent
              to the -o option of the pax(1) utility.

       --posix
              Same as --format=posix.

       -V, --label=TEXT
              Create  archive  with volume name TEXT.  If listing or extracting, use TEXT as a glob‐
              bing pattern for volume name.

   Compression options
       -a, --auto-compress
              Use archive suffix to determine the compression program.

       -I, --use-compress-program=COMMAND
              Filter data through COMMAND.  It must accept the -d option,  for  decompression.   The
              argument can contain command line options.

       -j, --bzip2
              Filter the archive through bzip2(1).

       -J, --xz
              Filter the archive through xz(1).

       --lzip Filter the archive through lzip(1).

       --lzma Filter the archive through lzma(1).

       --lzop Filter the archive through lzop(1).

       --no-auto-compress
              Do not use archive suffix to determine the compression program.

       -z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip
              Filter the archive through gzip(1).

       -Z, --compress, --uncompress
              Filter the archive through compress(1).

       --zstd Filter the archive through zstd(1).

   Local file selection
       --add-file=FILE
              Add FILE to the archive (useful if its name starts with a dash).

       --backup[=CONTROL]
              Backup before removal.  The CONTROL argument, if supplied, controls the backup policy.
              Its valid values are:

              none, off
                     Never make backups.

              t, numbered
                     Make numbered backups.

              nil, existing
                     Make numbered backups if numbered backups exist, simple backups otherwise.

              never, simple
                     Always make simple backups

              If CONTROL is not given, the value is taken from the VERSION_CONTROL environment vari‐
              able.  If it is not set, existing is assumed.

       -C, --directory=DIR
              Change  to DIR before performing any operations.  This option is order-sensitive, i.e.
              it affects all options that follow.

       --exclude=PATTERN
              Exclude files matching PATTERN, a glob(3)-style wildcard pattern.

       --exclude-backups
              Exclude backup and lock files.

       --exclude-caches
              Exclude contents of directories containing file CACHEDIR.TAG, except for the tag  file
              itself.

       --exclude-caches-all
              Exclude directories containing file CACHEDIR.TAG and the file itself.

       --exclude-caches-under
              Exclude everything under directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG

       --exclude-ignore=FILE
              Before  dumping  a directory, see if it contains FILE.  If so, read exclusion patterns
              from this file.  The patterns affect only the directory itself.

       --exclude-ignore-recursive=FILE
              Same as --exclude-ignore, except that patterns from FILE affect both the directory and
              all its subdirectories.

       --exclude-tag=FILE
              Exclude contents of directories containing FILE, except for FILE itself.

       --exclude-tag-all=FILE
              Exclude directories containing FILE.

       --exclude-tag-under=FILE
              Exclude everything under directories containing FILE.

       --exclude-vcs
              Exclude version control system directories.

       --exclude-vcs-ignores
              Exclude files that match patterns read  from  VCS-specific  ignore  files.   Supported
              files are: .cvsignore, .gitignore, .bzrignore, and .hgignore.

       -h, --dereference
              Follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they point to.

       --hard-dereference
              Follow hard links; archive and dump the files they refer to.

       -K, --starting-file=MEMBER
              Begin at the given member in the archive.

       --newer-mtime=DATE
              Work  on  files  whose  data changed after the DATE.  If DATE starts with / or . it is
              taken to be a file name; the mtime of that file is used as the date.

       --no-null
              Disable the effect of the previous --null option.

       --no-recursion
              Avoid descending automatically in directories.

       --no-unquote
              Do not unquote input file or member names.

       --no-verbatim-files-from
              Treat each line read from a file list as if it were  supplied  in  the  command  line.
              I.e.,  leading  and trailing whitespace is removed and, if the resulting string begins
              with a dash, it is treated as tar command line option.

              This is the default behavior.  The --no-verbatim-files-from option is  provided  as  a
              way to restore it after --verbatim-files-from option.

              This option is positional: it affects all --files-from options that occur after it in,
              until --verbatim-files-from option or end of line, whichever occurs first.

              It is implied by the --no-null option.

       --null Instruct  subsequent  -T options to read null-terminated names verbatim (disables spe‐
              cial handling of names that start with a dash).

              See also --verbatim-files-from.

       -N, --newer=DATE, --after-date=DATE
              Only store files newer than DATE.  If DATE starts with / or . it is taken to be a file
              name; the mtime of that file is used as the date.

       --one-file-system
              Stay in local file system when creating archive.

       -P, --absolute-names
              Don't strip leading slashes from file names when creating archives.

       --recursion
              Recurse into directories (default).

       --suffix=STRING
              Backup before removal, override usual suffix.  Default suffix is ~, unless  overridden
              by environment variable SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.

       -T, --files-from=FILE
              Get names to extract or create from FILE.

              Unless  specified  otherwise, the FILE must contain a list of names separated by ASCII
              LF (i.e. one name per line).  The names read are handled the same way as command  line
              arguments.   They undergo quote removal and word splitting, and any string that starts
              with a - is handled as tar command line option.

              If this behavior is undesirable, it can be turned off using the  --verbatim-files-from
              option.

              The  --null  option  instructs  tar  that the names in FILE are separated by ASCII NUL
              character, instead of LF.  It is useful if the list is generated  by  find(1)  -print0
              predicate.

       --unquote
              Unquote file or member names (default).

       --verbatim-files-from
              Treat  each  line  obtained  from a file list as a file name, even if it starts with a
              dash.  File lists are supplied with the --files-from (-T) option.  The default  behav‐
              ior  is  to  handle  names supplied in file lists as if they were typed in the command
              line, i.e. any names starting with a dash are treated as tar  options.   The  --verba‐
              tim-files-from option disables this behavior.

              This  option affects all --files-from options that occur after it in the command line.
              Its effect is reverted by the --no-verbatim-files-from option.

              This option is implied by the --null option.

              See also --add-file.

       -X, --exclude-from=FILE
              Exclude files matching patterns listed in FILE.

   File name transformations
       --strip-components=NUMBER
              Strip NUMBER leading components from file names on extraction.

       --transform=EXPRESSION, --xform=EXPRESSION
              Use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file names.

   File name matching options
       These options affect both exclude and include patterns.

       --anchored
              Patterns match file name start.

       --ignore-case
              Ignore case.

       --no-anchored
              Patterns match after any / (default for exclusion).

       --no-ignore-case
              Case sensitive matching (default).

       --no-wildcards
              Verbatim string matching.

       --no-wildcards-match-slash
              Wildcards do not match /.

       --wildcards
              Use wildcards (default for exclusion).

       --wildcards-match-slash
              Wildcards match / (default for exclusion).

   Informative output
       --checkpoint[=N]
              Display progress messages every Nth record (default 10).

       --checkpoint-action=ACTION
              Run ACTION on each checkpoint.

       --clamp-mtime
              Only set time when the file is more recent than what was given with --mtime.

       --full-time
              Print file time to its full resolution.

       --index-file=FILE
              Send verbose output to FILE.

       -l, --check-links
              Print a message if not all links are dumped.

       --no-quote-chars=STRING
              Disable quoting for characters from STRING.

       --quote-chars=STRING
              Additionally quote characters from STRING.

       --quoting-style=STYLE
              Set quoting style for file and member names.  Valid  values  for  STYLE  are  literal,
              shell, shell-always, c, c-maybe, escape, locale, clocale.

       -R, --block-number
              Show block number within archive with each message.

       --show-omitted-dirs
              When listing or extracting, list each directory that does not match search criteria.

       --show-transformed-names, --show-stored-names
              Show file or archive names after transformation by --strip and --transform options.

       --totals[=SIGNAL]
              Print total bytes after processing the archive.  If SIGNAL is given, print total bytes
              when this signal is delivered.  Allowed signals are: SIGHUP, SIGQUIT, SIGINT, SIGUSR1,
              and SIGUSR2.  The SIG prefix can be omitted.

       --utc  Print file modification times in UTC.

       -v, --verbose
              Verbosely  list files processed.  Each instance of this option on the command line in‐
              creases the verbosity level by one.  The maximum verbosity level is 3.  For a detailed
              discussion of how various verbosity levels affect tar's output, please  refer  to  GNU
              Tar Manual, subsection 2.5.2 "The '--verbose' Option".

       --warning=KEYWORD
              Enable or disable warning messages identified by KEYWORD.  The messages are suppressed
              if KEYWORD is prefixed with no- and enabled otherwise.

              Multiple --warning options accumulate.

              Keywords controlling general tar operation:

              all    Enable all warning messages.  This is the default.

              none   Disable all warning messages.

              filename-with-nuls
                     "%s: file name read contains nul character"

              alone-zero-block
                     "A lone zero block at %s"

              Keywords applicable for tar --create:

              cachedir
                     "%s: contains a cache directory tag %s; %s"

              file-shrank
                     "%s: File shrank by %s bytes; padding with zeros"

              xdev   "%s: file is on a different filesystem; not dumped"

              file-ignored
                     "%s: Unknown file type; file ignored"
                     "%s: socket ignored"
                     "%s: door ignored"

              file-unchanged
                     "%s: file is unchanged; not dumped"

              ignore-archive
                     "%s: archive cannot contain itself; not dumped"

              file-removed
                     "%s: File removed before we read it"

              file-changed
                     "%s: file changed as we read it"

              failed-read
                     Suppresses warnings about unreadable files or directories. This keyword applies
                     only if used together with the --ignore-failed-read option.

              Keywords applicable for tar --extract:

              existing-file
                     "%s: skipping existing file"

              timestamp
                     "%s: implausibly old time stamp %s"
                     "%s: time stamp %s is %s s in the future"

              contiguous-cast
                     "Extracting contiguous files as regular files"

              symlink-cast
                     "Attempting extraction of symbolic links as hard links"

              unknown-cast
                     "%s: Unknown file type '%c', extracted as normal file"

              ignore-newer
                     "Current %s is newer or same age"

              unknown-keyword
                     "Ignoring unknown extended header keyword '%s'"

              decompress-program
                     Controls  verbose description of failures occurring when trying to run alterna‐
                     tive decompressor programs.  This warning is disabled by default (unless --ver‐
                     bose is used).  A common example of what you can get when  using  this  warning
                     is:

                     $ tar --warning=decompress-program -x -f archive.Z
                     tar (child): cannot run compress: No such file or directory
                     tar (child): trying gzip

                     This  means  that  tar first tried to decompress archive.Z using compress, and,
                     when that failed, switched to gzip.

              record-size
                     "Record size = %lu blocks"

              Keywords controlling incremental extraction:

              rename-directory
                     "%s: Directory has been renamed from %s"
                     "%s: Directory has been renamed"

              new-directory
                     "%s: Directory is new"

              xdev   "%s: directory is on a different device: not purging"

              bad-dumpdir
                     "Malformed dumpdir: 'X' never used"

       -w, --interactive, --confirmation
              Ask for confirmation for every action.

   Compatibility options
       -o     When creating, same as --old-archive.  When extracting, same as --no-same-owner.

   Size suffixes
               Suffix    Units                   Byte Equivalent
               b         Blocks                  SIZE x 512
               B         Kilobytes               SIZE x 1024
               c         Bytes                   SIZE
               G         Gigabytes               SIZE x 1024^3
               K         Kilobytes               SIZE x 1024
               k         Kilobytes               SIZE x 1024
               M         Megabytes               SIZE x 1024^2
               P         Petabytes               SIZE x 1024^5
               T         Terabytes               SIZE x 1024^4
               w         Words                   SIZE x 2

RETURN VALUE
       Tar's exit code indicates whether it was able to successfully perform  the  requested  opera‐
       tion, and if not, what kind of error occurred.

       0      Successful termination.

       1      Some  files  differ.   If tar was invoked with the --compare (--diff, -d) command line
              option, this means that some files in the archive differ from their disk counterparts.
              If tar was given one of the --create, --append or --update  options,  this  exit  code
              means  that  some files were changed while being archived and so the resulting archive
              does not contain the exact copy of the file set.

       2      Fatal error.  This means that some fatal, unrecoverable error occurred.

       If a subprocess that had been invoked by tar exited with a nonzero exit code, tar itself  ex‐
       its  with that code as well.  This can happen, for example, if a compression option (e.g. -z)
       was used and the external compressor program failed.  Another example is rmt  failure  during
       backup to a remote device.

SEE ALSO
       bzip2(1), compress(1), gzip(1), lzma(1), lzop(1), rmt(8), symlink(7), xz(1), zstd(1).

       Complete tar manual: run info tar or use emacs(1) info mode to read it.

       Online copies of GNU tar documentation in various formats can be found at:

           https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual

BUG REPORTS
       Report bugs to <bug-tar AT gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
       This  is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to
       the extent permitted by law.

TAR                                         July 11, 2022                                     TAR(1)
TAR(1)
NAME SYNOPSIS
Traditional usage UNIX-style usage GNU-style usage
NOTE DESCRIPTION
Option styles Operation mode -A, --catenate, --concatenate -c, --create -d, --diff, --compare --delete -r, --append -t, --list --test-label -u, --update -x, --extract, --get --show-defaults --usage --version
OPTIONS
Operation modifiers --check-device -g, --listed-incremental=FILE -G, --incremental --ignore-failed-read -n, --seek --no-check-device --no-seek --restrict -S, --sparse Overwrite control -k, --keep-old-files --keep-newer-files --keep-directory-symlink --no-overwrite-dir --overwrite --overwrite-dir --recursive-unlink --remove-files --skip-old-files -U, --unlink-first -W, --verify Output stream selection --ignore-command-error --no-ignore-command-error -O, --to-stdout Handling of file attributes --delay-directory-restore -m, --touch --no-delay-directory-restore --no-same-owner --no-same-permissions --numeric-owner -p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions --same-owner -s, --preserve-order, --same-order Extended file attributes --no-acls --selinux --no-selinux --xattrs --no-xattrs Device selection and switching -f, --file=ARCHIVE --force-local -F, --info-script=COMMAND, --new-volume-script=COMMAND -L, --tape-length=N -M, --multi-volume Device blocking -b, --blocking-factor=BLOCKS -B, --read-full-records -i, --ignore-zeros Archive format selection -H, --format=FORMAT --posix -V, --label=TEXT Compression options -a, --auto-compress -I, --use-compress-program=COMMAND -j, --bzip2 -J, --xz --no-auto-compress -z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip -Z, --compress, --uncompress Local file selection -C, --directory=DIR --exclude-backups --exclude-caches --exclude-caches-all --exclude-caches-under --exclude-vcs --exclude-vcs-ignores -h, --dereference --hard-dereference -K, --starting-file=MEMBER --no-null --no-recursion --no-unquote --no-verbatim-files-from -N, --newer=DATE, --after-date=DATE --one-file-system -P, --absolute-names --recursion -T, --files-from=FILE --unquote --verbatim-files-from -X, --exclude-from=FILE File name transformations File name matching options --anchored --ignore-case --no-anchored --no-ignore-case --no-wildcards --no-wildcards-match-slash --wildcards --wildcards-match-slash Informative output --clamp-mtime --full-time -l, --check-links -R, --block-number --show-omitted-dirs -v, --verbose -w, --interactive, --confirmation Compatibility options -o When creating, same as --old-archive. When extracting, same as --no-same-owner. Size suffixes
RETURN VALUE SEE ALSO BUG REPORTS COPYRIGHT

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