Linux Command Line Tutorial For Beginners 36 - tar command to Compress a...

TAR(1)                    BSD General Commands Manual                   TAR(1)

NAME
     tar — The GNU version of the tar archiving utility

SYNOPSIS
     tar [-] A --catenate --concatenate | c --create | d --diff --compare |
         --delete | r --append | t --list | --test-label | u --update | x
         --extract --get [options] [pathname ...]

DESCRIPTION
     Tar stores and extracts files from a tape or disk archive.

     The first argument to tar should be a function; either one of the letters
     Acdrtux, or one of the long function names.  A function letter need not
     be prefixed with ``-'', and may be combined with other single-letter
     options.  A long function name must be prefixed with --.  Some options
     take a parameter; with the single-letter form these must be given as sep‐
     arate arguments.  With the long form, they may be given by appending
     =value to the option.

FUNCTION LETTERS
     Main operation mode:

     -A, --catenate, --concatenate
           append tar files to an archive

     -c, --create
           create a new archive

     -d, --diff, --compare
           find differences between archive and file system

     --delete
           delete from the archive (not on mag tapes!)

     -r, --append
           append files to the end of an archive

     -t, --list
           list the contents of an archive

     --test-label
           test the archive volume label and exit

     -u, --update
           only append files newer than copy in archive

     -x, --extract, --get
           extract files from an archive

OTHER OPTIONS
     Operation modifiers:

     -[0-7][lmh]
           specify drive and density

     -a, --auto-compress
           use archive suffix to determine the compression program

     --acls
           Enable the POSIX ACLs support

     --no-acls
           Disable the POSIX ACLs support

     --add-file=FILE
           add given FILE to the archive (useful if its name starts with a
           dash)

     --anchored
           patterns match file name start

     --no-anchored
           patterns match after any '/' (default for exclusion)

     --atime-preserve
           preserve access times on dumped files, either by restoring the
           times

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

     -b, --blocking-factor BLOCKS
           BLOCKS x 512 bytes per record

     -B, --read-full-records
           reblock as we read (for 4.2BSD pipes)

     --backup
           backup before removal, choose version CONTROL

     -C, --directory DIR
           change to directory DIR

     --check-device
           check device numbers when creating incremental archives (default)

     --no-check-device
           do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives

     --checkpoint
           display progress messages every NUMBERth record (default 10)

     --checkpoint-action=ACTION
           execute ACTION on each checkpoint

     --delay-directory-restore
           delay setting modification times and permissions of extracted

     --no-delay-directory-restore
           cancel the effect of --delay-directory-restore option

     --exclude=PATTERN
           exclude files, given as a PATTERN

     --exclude-backups
           exclude backup and lock files

     --exclude-caches
           exclude contents of directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG,

     --exclude-caches-all
           exclude directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG

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

     --exclude-tag=FILE
           exclude contents of directories containing FILE, except

     --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

     -f, --file ARCHIVE
           use archive file or device ARCHIVE

     -F, --info-script, --new-volume-script NAME
           run script at end of each tape (implies -M)

     --force-local
           archive file is local even if it has a colon

     --full-time
           print file time to its full resolution

     -g, --listed-incremental FILE
           handle new GNU-format incremental backup

     -G, --incremental
           handle old GNU-format incremental backup

     --group=NAME
           force NAME as group for added files

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

     -H, --format FORMAT
           create archive of the given formatFORMAT is one of the following:

           --format=gnu
                 GNU tar 1.13.x format

           --format=oldgnu
                 GNU format as per tar <= 1.12

           --format=pax
                 POSIX 1003.1-2001 (pax) format

           --format=posix
                 same as pax

           --format=ustar
                 POSIX 1003.1-1988 (ustar) format

           --format=v7
                 old V7 tar format

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

     -i, --ignore-zeros
           ignore zeroed blocks in archive (means EOF)

     -I, --use-compress-program PROG
           filter through PROG (must accept -d)

     --ignore-case
           ignore case

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

     --ignore-command-error
           ignore exit codes of children

     --no-ignore-command-error
           treat non-zero exit codes of children as error

     --ignore-failed-read
           do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files

     --index-file=FILE
           send verbose output to FILE

     -j, --bzip2


     -J, --xz


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

     -K, --starting-file MEMBER-NAME
           begin at member MEMBER-NAME when reading the archive

     --keep-directory-symlink
           preserve existing symlinks to directories when extracting

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

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

     -L, --tape-length NUMBER
           change tape after writing NUMBER x 1024 bytes

     --level=NUMBER
           dump level for created listed-incremental archive

     --lzip


     --lzma


     --lzop


     -m, --touch
           don't extract file modified time

     -M, --multi-volume
           create/list/extract multi-volume archive

     --mode=CHANGES
           force (symbolic) mode CHANGES for added files

     --mtime=DATE-OR-FILE
           set mtime for added files from DATE-OR-FILE

     -n, --seek
           archive is seekable

     -N, --newer, --after-date DATE-OR-FILE
           only store files newer than DATE-OR-FILE

     --newer-mtime=DATE
           compare date and time when data changed only

     --null
           -T reads null-terminated names, disable -C

     --no-null
           disable the effect of the previous --null option

     --numeric-owner
           always use numbers for user/group names

     -O, --to-stdout
           extract files to standard output

     --occurrence
           process only the NUMBERth occurrence of each file in the archive;

     --old-archive, --portability
           same as --format=v7

     --one-file-system
           stay in local file system when creating archive

     --overwrite
           overwrite existing files when extracting

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

     --no-overwrite-dir
           preserve metadata of existing directories

     --owner=NAME
           force NAME as owner for added files

     -p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions
           extract information about file permissions (default for superuser)

     -P, --absolute-names
           don't strip leading '/'s from file names

     --pax-option=keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value]]...
           control pax keywords

     --posix
           same as --format=posix

     --preserve
           same as both -p and -s

     --quote-chars=STRING
           additionally quote characters from STRING

     --no-quote-chars=STRING
           disable quoting for characters from STRING

     --quoting-style=STYLE
           set name quoting style; see below for valid STYLE values

     -R, --block-number
           show block number within archive with each message

     --record-size=NUMBER
           NUMBER of bytes per record, multiple of 512

     --recursion
           recurse into directories (default)

     --no-recursion
           avoid descending automatically in directories

     --recursive-unlink
           empty hierarchies prior to extracting directory

     --remove-files
           remove files after adding them to the archive

     --restrict
           disable use of some potentially harmful options

     --rmt-command=COMMAND
           use given rmt COMMAND instead of rmt

     --rsh-command=COMMAND
           use remote COMMAND instead of rsh

     -s, --preserve-order, --same-order
           member arguments are listed in the same order as the

     -S, --sparse
           handle sparse files efficiently

     --same-owner
           try extracting files with the same ownership as exists in the ar‐
           chive (default for superuser)

     --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 ordinary users)

     --no-seek
           archive is not seekable

     --selinux
           Enable the SELinux context support

     --no-selinux
           Disable the SELinux context support

     --show-defaults
           show tar defaults

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

     --show-snapshot-field-ranges
           show valid ranges for snapshot-file fields

     --show-transformed-names, --show-stored-names
           show file or archive names after transformation

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

     --sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR]
           set version of the sparse format to use (implies --sparse)

     --strip-components=NUMBER
           strip NUMBER leading components from file names on extraction

     --suffix=STRING
           backup before removal, override usual suffix ('~' unless overridden
           by environment variable SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX)

     -T, --files-from FILE
           get names to extract or create from FILE

     --to-command=COMMAND
           pipe extracted files to another program

     --totals
           print total bytes after processing the archive;

     --transform, --xform EXPRESSION
           use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file names

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

     --unquote
           unquote filenames read with -T (default)

     --no-unquote
           do not unquote filenames read with -T

     --utc
           print file modification times in UTC

     -v, --verbose
           verbosely list files processed

     -V, --label TEXT
           create archive with volume name TEXT; at list/extract time, use
           TEXT as a globbing pattern for volume name

     --volno-file=FILE
           use/update the volume number in FILE

     -w, --interactive, --confirmation
           ask for confirmation for every action

     -W, --verify
           attempt to verify the archive after writing it

     --warning=KEYWORD
           warning control

     --wildcards
           use wildcards (default for exclusion)

     --wildcards-match-slash
           wildcards match '/' (default for exclusion)

     --no-wildcards-match-slash
           wildcards do not match '/'

     --no-wildcards
           verbatim string matching

     -X, --exclude-from FILE
           exclude patterns listed in FILE

     --xattrs
           Enable extended attributes support

     --xattrs-exclude=MASK
           specify the exclude pattern for xattr keys

     --xattrs-include=MASK
           specify the include pattern for xattr keys

     --no-xattrs
           Disable extended attributes support

     -z, --gzip, --gunzip --ungzip


     -Z, --compress, --uncompress


ENVIRONMENT
     The behavior of tar is controlled by the following environment variables,
     among others:

     TAR_LONGLINK_100

     PRISTINE_TAR_COMPAT

     SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX
             Backup prefix to use when extracting, if --suffix is not speci‐
             fied.  The backup suffix defaults to `~' if neither is specified.

     TAR_OPTIONS
             Options to prepend to those specified on the command line, sepa‐
             rated by whitespace.  Embedded backslashes may be used to escape
             whitespace or backslashes within an option.

     TAPE    Device or file to use for the archive if --file is not specified.
             If this environment variable is unset, use stdin or stdout
             instead.

EXAMPLES
     Create archive.tar from files foo and bar.
           tar -cf archive.tar foo bar
     List all files in archive.tar verbosely.
           tar -tvf archive.tar
     Extract all files from archive.tar.
           tar -xf archive.tar

SEE ALSO
     tar(5), symlink(7), rmt(8)

HISTORY
     The tar command appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.

BUGS
     The GNU folks, in general, abhor man pages, and create info documents
     instead.  Unfortunately, the info document describing tar is licensed
     under the GFDL with invariant cover texts, which makes it impossible to
     include any text from that document in this man page.  Most of the text
     in this document was automatically extracted from the usage text in the
     source.  It may not completely describe all features of the program.

                                  Feb 4, 2014