tar(1)



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] ARCHIVE ARCHIVE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOTE
       This manpage is a short description of GNU tar.  For a detailed discus-
       sion, including examples 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

           http://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 device (e.g. a tape drive, hence  the
       name  of the program, which stands for tape archiver), which can be lo-
       cated either on the local or on a remote machine.

   Option styles
       Options to GNU tar can be given in three different styles.   In  tradi-
       tional 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 letters.
       Any command line words that remain after all options has been processed
       are treated as non-optional 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 being archived:

       tar cfv a.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
       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 intervening 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.  Options that take  arguments  (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 a.tar /etc
       or
       tar -c -v -f a.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, pro-
       vided that this does not create ambiguity.  Arguments to  long  options
       are  supplied  either as a separate command line word, immediately fol-
       lowing the option, or separated from the option by an equals sign  with
       no intervening whitespace.  Optional arguments must always use the lat-
       ter method.

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

       tar --create --file a.tar --verbose /etc
       or (abbreviating some options):
       tar --cre --file=a.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.   Meaning  of  non-op-
       tional arguments depends on the operation mode requested.

       -A, --catenate, --concatenate
              Append archive 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, oth-
              erwise the resulting archive might be unusable with non-GNU  im-
              plementations  of  tar.  Notice also that when more than one ar-
              chive is given, the members from archives other than  the  first
              one  will  be  accessible in the resulting archive only if 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.   Directories 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  ar-
              chive  members  to  be  removed.   At least one argument must be
              given.

              This option does not operate on compressed archives.   There  is
              no short option equivalent.

       -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 argu-
              ments, it prints the volume label (if any) and exits with status
              0.  When one or more command line arguments are given.  tar com-
              pares 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 -c and -r op-
              tions.  Notice, that newer files don't replace their old archive
              copies, but instead are appended to the end of archive.  The re-
              sulting 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  ex-
              tracted.

       --show-defaults
              Show built-in defaults for various tar options and exit.  No ar-
              guments are allowed.

       -?, --help
              Display a short option summary and exit.  No arguments allowed.

       --usage
              Display a list of available options and exit.  No arguments  al-
              lowed.

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

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

       -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  incre-
              mental  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, cre-
              ate  a  copy  of the snapshot file created during the level N-1,
              and use it as FILE.

              When listing or extracting, the actual contents 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 values for METHOD are seek and raw.  Default is
              seek with fallback to raw when not applicable.

       -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  created  listed-incremental  archive.   Cur-
              rently  only  --level=0 is meaningful: it instructs tar to trun-
              cate the snapshot file before dumping, thereby forcing a level 0
              dump.

       -n, --seek
              Assume  the  archive is seekable.  Normally tar determines auto-
              matically 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
              option.  The default N is 1.

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

       --sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR]
              Set  version  of  the  sparse  format to use (implies --sparse).
              This option implies --sparse.  Valid argument  values  are  0.0,
              0.1,  and 1.0.  For a detailed discussion of sparse formats, re-
              fer to the GNU Tar Manual, appendix D, "Sparse Formats".   Using
              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 exist-
       ing 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  stan-
              dard compression suffixes recognizable by --auto-compress).

       --overwrite
              Overwrite existing files when extracting.

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

       --recursive-unlink
              Recursively remove all files in the directory prior to  extract-
              ing 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 output.  Additional
              data will be supplied via the following environment variables:

              TAR_FILETYPE
                     Type of the file. It is a single letter with the  follow-
                     ing 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 nanoseconds 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 ex-
                     ecuting.

   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  inferred  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  introduced  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  supplied, NEWGRP must also be either a valid
              group name or a +GID.  Otherwise, both NEWGRP  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  ar-
              chive (default for ordinary 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 inferred 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 introduced 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 supplied, 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
              extract  information  about  file permissions (default for supe-
              ruser)

       --preserve
              Same as both -p and -s.

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

       -s, --preserve-order, --same-order
              Sort names to extract to match 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 ar-
              chive is uniform and reproducible.

              Using --sort=inode reduces the number of disk  seeks  made  when
              creating the archive and thus can considerably speed up archiva-
              tion.  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 POSIX
              regular expression, e.g. --xattrs-exclude='^user.',  to  exclude
              attributes from the user namespace.

       --xattrs-include=PATTERN
              Specify  the include pattern for xattr keys.  PATTERN is a POSIX
              regular expression.

   Device selection and switching
       -f, --file=ARCHIVE
              Use archive file or device  ARCHIVE.   If  this  option  is  not
              given,  tar  will first examine the environment variable `TAPE'.
              If it is set, its value will be used as the archive name.   Oth-
              erwise,  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 de-
              vice on a remote machine.  The part before the colon is taken as
              the  machine  name  or  IP address, and the part after 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  en-
              vironment 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 oper-
                     ation 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  writ-
              ing 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 af-
              ter end-of-file marker.

       -i, --ignore-zeros
              Ignore zeroed  blocks  in  archive.   Normally  two  consecutive
              512-blocks filled with zeroes mean EOF and tar stops reading af-
              ter 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 Kilobytes.  See the sub-
              section 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 globbing 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, con-
              trols 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 VER-
              SION_CONTROL environment variable.  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  pat-
              tern.

       --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  re-
              moved  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  op-
              tion  is  provided  as  a  way  to  restore  it  after  --verba-
              tim-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  special 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 ctime 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  ar-
              chives.

       --recursion
              Recurse into directories (default).

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

       -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 sepa-
              rated  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  behavior  is  to  handle
              names  supplied  in file lists as if they were typed in the com-
              mand line, i.e. any names starting with a dash  are  treated  as
              tar options.  The --verbatim-files-from option disables this be-
              havior.

              This option affects all --files-from options that occur after it
              in  the command line.  Its effect is reverted by the --no-verba-
              tim-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,  lo-
              cale, 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.

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

              Multiple --warning messages 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: file is the archive; 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  directo-
                     ries. 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  alternative decompressor programs.  This
                     warning is  disabled  by  default  (unless  --verbose  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 exit code indicates whether it was able to successfully perform the
       requested operation, 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  exits 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).

       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:

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

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

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/li-
       censes/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                            November 16, 2017                        TAR(1)

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