tar: Option Summary
1
1 3.4.2 'tar' Options
1 -------------------
1
1 '--absolute-names'
1 '-P'
1
1 Normally when creating an archive, 'tar' strips an initial '/' from
1 member names, and when extracting from an archive 'tar' treats
1 names specially if they have initial '/' or internal '..'. This
1 option disables that behavior. ⇒absolute.
1
1 '--acls'
1 Enable POSIX ACLs support. ⇒acls Extended File Attributes.
1
1 '--after-date'
1
1 (See '--newer', ⇒after)
1
1 '--anchored'
1 A pattern must match an initial subsequence of the name's
1 components. ⇒controlling pattern-matching.
1
1 '--atime-preserve'
1 '--atime-preserve=replace'
1 '--atime-preserve=system'
1
1 Attempt to preserve the access time of files when reading them.
1 This option currently is effective only on files that you own,
1 unless you have superuser privileges.
1
1 '--atime-preserve=replace' remembers the access time of a file
1 before reading it, and then restores the access time afterwards.
1 This may cause problems if other programs are reading the file at
1 the same time, as the times of their accesses will be lost. On
1 most platforms restoring the access time also requires 'tar' to
1 restore the data modification time too, so this option may also
1 cause problems if other programs are writing the file at the same
1 time ('tar' attempts to detect this situation, but cannot do so
1 reliably due to race conditions). Worse, on most platforms
1 restoring the access time also updates the status change time,
1 which means that this option is incompatible with incremental
1 backups.
1
1 '--atime-preserve=system' avoids changing time stamps on files,
1 without interfering with time stamp updates caused by other
1 programs, so it works better with incremental backups. However, it
1 requires a special 'O_NOATIME' option from the underlying operating
1 and file system implementation, and it also requires that searching
1 directories does not update their access times. As of this writing
1 (November 2005) this works only with Linux, and only with Linux
1 kernels 2.6.8 and later. Worse, there is currently no reliable way
1 to know whether this feature actually works. Sometimes 'tar' knows
1 that it does not work, and if you use '--atime-preserve=system'
1 then 'tar' complains and exits right away. But other times 'tar'
1 might think that the option works when it actually does not.
1
1 Currently '--atime-preserve' with no operand defaults to
1 '--atime-preserve=replace', but this may change in the future as
1 support for '--atime-preserve=system' improves.
1
1 If your operating or file system does not support
1 '--atime-preserve=system', you might be able to preserve access
1 times reliably by using the 'mount' command. For example, you can
1 mount the file system read-only, or access the file system via a
1 read-only loopback mount, or use the 'noatime' mount option
1 available on some systems. However, mounting typically requires
1 superuser privileges and can be a pain to manage.
1
1 '--auto-compress'
1 '-a'
1
1 During a '--create' operation, enables automatic compressed format
1 recognition based on the archive suffix. The effect of this option
1 is cancelled by '--no-auto-compress'. ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--backup=BACKUP-TYPE'
1
1 Rather than deleting files from the file system, 'tar' will back
1 them up using simple or numbered backups, depending upon
1 BACKUP-TYPE. ⇒backup.
1
1 '--block-number'
1 '-R'
1
1 With this option present, 'tar' prints error messages for read
11 errors with the block number in the archive file. ⇒
block-number.
1
1 '--blocking-factor=BLOCKING'
1 '-b BLOCKING'
1
1 Sets the blocking factor 'tar' uses to BLOCKING x 512 bytes per
1 record. ⇒Blocking Factor.
1
1 '--bzip2'
1 '-j'
1
1 This option tells 'tar' to read or write archives through 'bzip2'.
1 ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--check-device'
1 Check device numbers when creating a list of modified files for
11 incremental archiving. This is the default. ⇒device
numbers, for a detailed description.
1
1 '--checkpoint[=NUMBER]'
1
1 This option directs 'tar' to print periodic checkpoint messages as
1 it reads through the archive. It is intended for when you want a
1 visual indication that 'tar' is still running, but don't want to
1 see '--verbose' output. You can also instruct 'tar' to execute a
1 list of actions on each checkpoint, see '--checkpoint-action'
1 below. For a detailed description, see ⇒checkpoints.
1
1 '--checkpoint-action=ACTION'
1 Instruct 'tar' to execute an action upon hitting a breakpoint.
1 Here we give only a brief outline. ⇒checkpoints, for a
1 complete description.
1
1 The ACTION argument can be one of the following:
1
1 bell
1 Produce an audible bell on the console.
1
1 dot
1 .
1 Print a single dot on the standard listing stream.
1
1 echo
1 Display a textual message on the standard error, with the
1 status and number of the checkpoint. This is the default.
1
1 echo=STRING
1 Display STRING on the standard error. Before output, the
1 string is subject to meta-character expansion.
1
1 exec=COMMAND
1 Execute the given COMMAND.
1
1 sleep=TIME
1 Wait for TIME seconds.
1
1 ttyout=STRING
1 Output STRING on the current console ('/dev/tty').
1
1 Several '--checkpoint-action' options can be specified. The
1 supplied actions will be executed in order of their appearance in
1 the command line.
1
1 Using '--checkpoint-action' without '--checkpoint' assumes default
1 checkpoint frequency of one checkpoint per 10 records.
1
1 '--check-links'
1 '-l'
1 If this option was given, 'tar' will check the number of links
1 dumped for each processed file. If this number does not match the
1 total number of hard links for the file, a warning message will be
1 output (1).
1
1 ⇒hard links.
1
1 '--compress'
1 '--uncompress'
1 '-Z'
1
1 'tar' will use the 'compress' program when reading or writing the
1 archive. This allows you to directly act on archives while saving
1 space. ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--clamp-mtime'
1
1 (See '--mtime'.)
1
1 '--confirmation'
1
1 (See '--interactive'.) ⇒interactive.
1
1 '--delay-directory-restore'
1
1 Delay setting modification times and permissions of extracted
11 directories until the end of extraction. ⇒Directory
Modification Times and Permissions.
1
1 '--dereference'
1 '-h'
1
1 When reading or writing a file to be archived, 'tar' accesses the
1 file that a symbolic link points to, rather than the symlink
1 itself. ⇒dereference.
1
1 '--directory=DIR'
1 '-C DIR'
1
1 When this option is specified, 'tar' will change its current
1 directory to DIR before performing any operations. When this
1 option is used during archive creation, it is order sensitive.
1 ⇒directory.
1
1 '--exclude=PATTERN'
1
1 When performing operations, 'tar' will skip files that match
1 PATTERN. ⇒exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-backups'
1 Exclude backup and lock files. ⇒exclude-backups exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-from=FILE'
1 '-X FILE'
1
1 Similar to '--exclude', except 'tar' will use the list of patterns
1 in the file FILE. ⇒exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-caches'
1
1 Exclude from dump any directory containing a valid cache directory
1 tag file, but still dump the directory node and the tag file
1 itself.
1
1 ⇒exclude-caches exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-caches-under'
1
1 Exclude from dump any directory containing a valid cache directory
1 tag file, but still dump the directory node itself.
1
1 ⇒exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-caches-all'
1
1 Exclude from dump any directory containing a valid cache directory
1 tag file. ⇒exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-ignore=FILE'
1 Before dumping a directory, 'tar' checks if it contains FILE. If
1 so, exclusion patterns are read from this file. The patterns
1 affect only the directory itself. ⇒exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-ignore-recursive=FILE'
1 Before dumping a directory, 'tar' checks if it contains FILE. If
1 so, exclusion patterns are read from this file. The patterns
1 affect the directory and all itssubdirectories. ⇒exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-tag=FILE'
1
1 Exclude from dump any directory containing file named FILE, but
11 dump the directory node and FILE itself. ⇒exclude-tag
exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-tag-under=FILE'
1
1 Exclude from dump the contents of any directory containing file
11 named FILE, but dump the directory node itself. ⇒
exclude-tag-under exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-tag-all=FILE'
1
11 Exclude from dump any directory containing file named FILE. ⇒
exclude-tag-all exclude.
1
1 '--exclude-vcs'
1
1 Exclude from dump directories and files, that are internal for some
1 widely used version control systems.
1
1 ⇒exclude-vcs.
1
1 '--exclude-vcs-ignores'
1 Exclude files that match patterns read from VCS-specific ignore
1 files. Supported files are: '.cvsignore', '.gitignore',
1 '.bzrignore', and '.hgignore'. The semantics of each file is the
1 same as for the corresponding VCS, e.g. patterns read from
1 '.gitignore' affect the directory and all its subdirectories.
1 ⇒exclude-vcs-ignores.
1
1 '--file=ARCHIVE'
1 '-f ARCHIVE'
1
1 'tar' will use the file ARCHIVE as the 'tar' archive it performs
1 operations on, rather than 'tar''s compilation dependent default.
1 ⇒file tutorial.
1
1 '--files-from=FILE'
1 '-T FILE'
1
1 'tar' will use the contents of FILE as a list of archive members or
1 files to operate on, in addition to those specified on the
1 command-line. ⇒files.
1
1 '--force-local'
1
1 Forces 'tar' to interpret the file name given to '--file' as a
11 local file, even if it looks like a remote tape drive name. ⇒
local and remote archives.
1
1 '--format=FORMAT'
1 '-H FORMAT'
1
1 Selects output archive format. FORMAT may be one of the following:
1
1 'v7'
1 Creates an archive that is compatible with Unix V7 'tar'.
1
1 'oldgnu'
1 Creates an archive that is compatible with GNU 'tar' version
1 1.12 or earlier.
1
1 'gnu'
1 Creates archive in GNU tar 1.13 format. Basically it is the
1 same as 'oldgnu' with the only difference in the way it
1 handles long numeric fields.
1
1 'ustar'
1 Creates a POSIX.1-1988 compatible archive.
1
1 'posix'
1 Creates a POSIX.1-2001 archive.
1
1 ⇒Formats, for a detailed discussion of these formats.
1
1 '--full-time'
1 This option instructs 'tar' to print file times to their full
1 resolution. Usually this means 1-second resolution, but that
1 depends on the underlying file system. The '--full-time' option
1 takes effect only when detailed output (verbosity level 2 or
1 higher) has been requested using the '--verbose' option, e.g., when
1 listing or extracting archives:
1
1 $ tar -t -v --full-time -f archive.tar
1
1 or, when creating an archive:
1
1 $ tar -c -vv --full-time -f archive.tar .
1
1 Notice, thar when creating the archive you need to specify
11 '--verbose' twice to get a detailed output (⇒verbose
tutorial).
1
1 '--group=GROUP'
1
1 Files added to the 'tar' archive will have a group ID of GROUP,
1 rather than the group from the source file. GROUP can specify a
11 symbolic name, or a numeric ID, or both as NAME:ID. ⇒
override.
1
1 Also see the '--group-map' option and comments for the
1 '--owner=USER' option.
1
1 '--group-map=FILE'
1
1 Read owner group translation map from FILE. This option allows to
1 translate only certain group names and/or UIDs. ⇒override,
1 for a detailed description. When used together with '--group'
1 option, the latter affects only those files whose owner group is
1 not listed in the FILE.
1
1 This option does not affect extraction from archives.
1
1 '--gzip'
1 '--gunzip'
1 '--ungzip'
1 '-z'
1
1 This option tells 'tar' to read or write archives through 'gzip',
1 allowing 'tar' to directly operate on several kinds of compressed
1 archives transparently. ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--hard-dereference'
1 When creating an archive, dereference hard links and store the
1 files they refer to, instead of creating usual hard link members.
1
1 ⇒hard links.
1
1 '--help'
1 '-?'
1
1 'tar' will print out a short message summarizing the operations and
1 options to 'tar' and exit. ⇒help.
1
1 '--hole-detection=METHOD'
1 Use METHOD to detect holes in sparse files. This option implies
1 '--sparse'. Valid methods are 'seek' and 'raw'. Default is 'seek'
1 with fallback to 'raw' when not applicable. ⇒sparse.
1
1 '--ignore-case'
1 Ignore case when matching member or file names with patterns.
1 ⇒controlling pattern-matching.
1
1 '--ignore-command-error'
11 Ignore exit codes of subprocesses. ⇒Writing to an External
Program.
1
1 '--ignore-failed-read'
1
1 Do not exit unsuccessfully merely because an unreadable file was
1 encountered. ⇒Ignore Failed Read.
1
1 '--ignore-zeros'
1 '-i'
1
1 With this option, 'tar' will ignore zeroed blocks in the archive,
1 which normally signals EOF. ⇒Reading.
1
1 '--incremental'
1 '-G'
1
1 Informs 'tar' that it is working with an old GNU-format incremental
1 backup archive. It is intended primarily for backwards
1 compatibility only. ⇒Incremental Dumps, for a detailed
1 discussion of incremental archives.
1
1 '--index-file=FILE'
1
1 Send verbose output to FILE instead of to standard output.
1
1 '--info-script=COMMAND'
1 '--new-volume-script=COMMAND'
1 '-F COMMAND'
1
1 When 'tar' is performing multi-tape backups, COMMAND is run at the
1 end of each tape. If it exits with nonzero status, 'tar' fails
1 immediately. ⇒info-script, for a detailed discussion of
1 this feature.
1
1 '--interactive'
1 '--confirmation'
1 '-w'
1
1 Specifies that 'tar' should ask the user for confirmation before
1 performing potentially destructive options, such as overwriting
1 files. ⇒interactive.
1
1 '--keep-directory-symlink'
1
1 This option changes the behavior of tar when it encounters a
1 symlink with the same name as the directory that it is about to
1 extract. By default, in this case tar would first remove the
1 symlink and then proceed extracting the directory.
1
1 The '--keep-directory-symlink' option disables this behavior and
1 instructs tar to follow symlinks to directories when extracting
1 from the archive.
1
1 It is mainly intended to provide compatibility with the Slackware
1 installation scripts.
1
1 '--keep-newer-files'
1
1 Do not replace existing files that are newer than their archive
1 copies when extracting files from an archive.
1
1 '--keep-old-files'
1 '-k'
1
1 Do not overwrite existing files when extracting files from an
11 archive. Return error if such files exist. See also ⇒
--skip-old-files.
1
1 ⇒Keep Old Files.
1
1 '--label=NAME'
1 '-V NAME'
1
1 When creating an archive, instructs 'tar' to write NAME as a name
1 record in the archive. When extracting or listing archives, 'tar'
1 will only operate on archives that have a label matching the
1 pattern specified in NAME. ⇒Tape Files.
1
1 '--level=N'
1 Force incremental backup of level N. As of GNU 'tar' version 1.30,
1 the option '--level=0' truncates the snapshot file, thereby forcing
1 the level 0 dump. Other values of N are effectively ignored.
1 ⇒--level=0, for details and examples.
1
1 The use of this option is valid only in conjunction with the
1 '--listed-incremental' option. ⇒Incremental Dumps, for a
1 detailed description.
1
1 '--listed-incremental=SNAPSHOT-FILE'
1 '-g SNAPSHOT-FILE'
1
1 During a '--create' operation, specifies that the archive that
1 'tar' creates is a new GNU-format incremental backup, using
1 SNAPSHOT-FILE to determine which files to backup. With other
1 operations, informs 'tar' that the archive is in incremental
1 format. ⇒Incremental Dumps.
1
1 '--lzip'
1
1 This option tells 'tar' to read or write archives through 'lzip'.
1 ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--lzma'
1
1 This option tells 'tar' to read or write archives through 'lzma'.
1 ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--lzop'
1
1 This option tells 'tar' to read or write archives through 'lzop'.
1 ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--mode=PERMISSIONS'
1
1 When adding files to an archive, 'tar' will use PERMISSIONS for the
1 archive members, rather than the permissions from the files.
1 PERMISSIONS can be specified either as an octal number or as
1 symbolic permissions, like with 'chmod'. ⇒override.
1
1 '--mtime=DATE'
1
1 When adding files to an archive, 'tar' will use DATE as the
1 modification time of members when creating archives, instead of
1 their actual modification times. The value of DATE can be either a
1 textual date representation (⇒Date input formats) or a name
1 of the existing file, starting with '/' or '.'. In the latter
11 case, the modification time of that file is used. ⇒
override.
1
1 When '--clamp-mtime' is also specified, files with modification
1 times earlier than DATE will retain their actual modification
1 times, and DATE will only be used for files whose modification
1 times are later than DATE.
1
1 '--multi-volume'
1 '-M'
1
1 Informs 'tar' that it should create or otherwise operate on a
1 multi-volume 'tar' archive. ⇒Using Multiple Tapes.
1
1 '--new-volume-script'
1
1 (see '--info-script')
1
1 '--newer=DATE'
1 '--after-date=DATE'
1 '-N'
1
1 When creating an archive, 'tar' will only add files that have
1 changed since DATE. If DATE begins with '/' or '.', it is taken to
1 be the name of a file whose data modification time specifies the
1 date. ⇒after.
1
1 '--newer-mtime=DATE'
1
1 Like '--newer', but add only files whose contents have changed (as
1 opposed to just '--newer', which will also back up files for which
1 any status information has changed). ⇒after.
1
1 '--no-acls'
11 Disable the POSIX ACLs support. ⇒acls Extended File
Attributes.
1
1 '--no-anchored'
1 An exclude pattern can match any subsequence of the name's
1 components. ⇒controlling pattern-matching.
1
1 '--no-auto-compress'
1
1 Disables automatic compressed format recognition based on the
1 archive suffix. ⇒--auto-compress. ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--no-check-device'
1 Do not check device numbers when creating a list of modified files
1 for incremental archiving. ⇒device numbers, for a detailed
1 description.
1
1 '--no-delay-directory-restore'
1
1 Modification times and permissions of extracted directories are set
1 when all files from this directory have been extracted. This is
1 the default. ⇒Directory Modification Times and Permissions.
1
1 '--no-ignore-case'
1 Use case-sensitive matching. ⇒controlling pattern-matching.
1
1 '--no-ignore-command-error'
1 Print warnings about subprocesses that terminated with a nonzero
1 exit code. ⇒Writing to an External Program.
1
1 '--no-null'
1
1 If the '--null' option was given previously, this option cancels
1 its effect, so that any following '--files-from' options will
1 expect their file lists to be newline-terminated.
1
1 '--no-overwrite-dir'
1
1 Preserve metadata of existing directories when extracting files
1 from an archive. ⇒Overwrite Old Files.
1
1 '--no-quote-chars=STRING'
1 Remove characters listed in STRING from the list of quoted
11 characters set by the previous '--quote-chars' option (⇒
quoting styles).
1
1 '--no-recursion'
1
11 With this option, 'tar' will not recurse into directories. ⇒
recurse.
1
1 '--no-same-owner'
1 '-o'
1
1 When extracting an archive, do not attempt to preserve the owner
1 specified in the 'tar' archive. This the default behavior for
1 ordinary users.
1
1 '--no-same-permissions'
1
1 When extracting an archive, subtract the user's umask from files
1 from the permissions specified in the archive. This is the default
1 behavior for ordinary users.
1
1 '--no-seek'
1
1 The archive media does not support seeks to arbitrary locations.
1 Usually 'tar' determines automatically whether the archive can be
1 seeked or not. Use this option to disable this mechanism.
1
1 '--no-selinux'
11 Disable SELinux context support. ⇒SELinux Extended File
Attributes.
1
1 '--no-unquote'
1 Treat all input file or member names literally, do not interpret
1 escape sequences. ⇒input name quoting.
1
1 '--no-verbatim-files-from'
1
1 Instructs GNU 'tar' to treat each line read from a file list as if
1 it were supplied in the command line. I.e., leading and trailing
1 whitespace is removed and, if the result begins with a dash, it is
1 treated as a GNU 'tar' command line option.
1
1 This is default behavior. This option is provided as a way to
1 restore it after '--verbatim-files-from' option.
1
1 It is implied by the '--no-null' option.
1
1 ⇒no-verbatim-files-from.
1
1 '--no-wildcards'
1 Do not use wildcards. ⇒controlling pattern-matching.
1
1 '--no-wildcards-match-slash'
1 Wildcards do not match '/'. ⇒controlling pattern-matching.
1
1 '--no-xattrs'
11 Disable extended attributes support. ⇒xattrs Extended File
Attributes.
1
1 '--null'
1
1 When 'tar' is using the '--files-from' option, this option
1 instructs 'tar' to expect file names terminated with NUL, and to
1 process file names verbatim.
1
1 This means that 'tar' correctly works with file names that contain
1 newlines or begin with a dash.
1
1 ⇒nul.
1
1 See also ⇒verbatim-files-from.
1
1 '--numeric-owner'
1
1 This option will notify 'tar' that it should use numeric user and
11 group IDs when creating a 'tar' file, rather than names. ⇒
Attributes.
1
1 '-o'
1 The function of this option depends on the action 'tar' is
1 performing. When extracting files, '-o' is a synonym for
1 '--no-same-owner', i.e., it prevents 'tar' from restoring ownership
1 of files being extracted.
1
1 When creating an archive, it is a synonym for '--old-archive'.
1 This behavior is for compatibility with previous versions of GNU
1 'tar', and will be removed in future releases.
1
1 ⇒Changes, for more information.
1
1 '--occurrence[=NUMBER]'
1
1 This option can be used in conjunction with one of the subcommands
1 '--delete', '--diff', '--extract' or '--list' when a list of files
1 is given either on the command line or via '-T' option.
1
1 This option instructs 'tar' to process only the NUMBERth occurrence
1 of each named file. NUMBER defaults to 1, so
1
1 tar -x -f archive.tar --occurrence filename
1
1 will extract the first occurrence of the member 'filename' from
1 'archive.tar' and will terminate without scanning to the end of the
1 archive.
1
1 '--old-archive'
1 Synonym for '--format=v7'.
1
1 '--one-file-system'
1 Used when creating an archive. Prevents 'tar' from recursing into
1 directories that are on different file systems from the current
1 directory.
1
1 '--one-top-level[=DIR]'
1 Tells 'tar' to create a new directory beneath the extraction
1 directory (or the one passed to '-C') and use it to guard against
1 tarbombs. In the absence of DIR argument, the name of the new
1 directory will be equal to the base name of the archive (file name
1 minus the archive suffix, if recognized). Any member names that do
1 not begin with that directory name (after transformations from
1 '--transform' and '--strip-components') will be prefixed with it.
1 Recognized file name suffixes are '.tar', and any compression
1 suffixes recognizable by ⇒--auto-compress.
1
1 '--overwrite'
1
1 Overwrite existing files and directory metadata when extracting
1 files from an archive. ⇒Overwrite Old Files.
1
1 '--overwrite-dir'
1
1 Overwrite the metadata of existing directories when extracting
1 files from an archive. ⇒Overwrite Old Files.
1
1 '--owner=USER'
1
1 Specifies that 'tar' should use USER as the owner of members when
1 creating archives, instead of the user associated with the source
1 file. USER can specify a symbolic name, or a numeric ID, or both
1 as NAME:ID. ⇒override.
1
1 This option does not affect extraction from archives. See also
1 '--owner-map', below.
1
1 '--owner-map=FILE'
1
1 Read owner translation map from FILE. This option allows to
1 translate only certain owner names or UIDs. ⇒override, for
1 a detailed description. When used together with '--owner' option,
1 the latter affects only those files whose owner is not listed in
1 the FILE.
1
1 This option does not affect extraction from archives.
1
1 '--pax-option=KEYWORD-LIST'
1 This option enables creation of the archive in POSIX.1-2001 format
1 (⇒posix) and modifies the way 'tar' handles the extended
1 header keywords. KEYWORD-LIST is a comma-separated list of keyword
1 options. ⇒PAX keywords, for a detailed discussion.
1
1 '--portability'
1 '--old-archive'
1 Synonym for '--format=v7'.
1
1 '--posix'
1 Same as '--format=posix'.
1
1 '--preserve-order'
1
1 (See '--same-order'; ⇒Reading.)
1
1 '--preserve-permissions'
1 '--same-permissions'
1 '-p'
1
1 When 'tar' is extracting an archive, it normally subtracts the
1 users' umask from the permissions specified in the archive and uses
1 that number as the permissions to create the destination file.
1 Specifying this option instructs 'tar' that it should use the
11 permissions directly from the archive. ⇒Setting Access
Permissions.
1
1 '--quote-chars=STRING'
1 Always quote characters from STRING, even if the selected quoting
1 style would not quote them (⇒quoting styles).
1
1 '--quoting-style=STYLE'
11 Set quoting style to use when printing member and file names (⇒
quoting styles). Valid STYLE values are: 'literal', 'shell',
1 'shell-always', 'c', 'escape', 'locale', and 'clocale'. Default
1 quoting style is 'escape', unless overridden while configuring the
1 package.
1
1 '--read-full-records'
1 '-B'
1
1 Specifies that 'tar' should reblock its input, for reading from
1 pipes on systems with buggy implementations. ⇒Reading.
1
1 '--record-size=SIZE[SUF]'
1
1 Instructs 'tar' to use SIZE bytes per record when accessing the
1 archive. The argument can be suffixed with a "size suffix", e.g.
DONTPRINTYET 11 '--record-size=10K' for 10 Kilobytes. ⇒(tar)for a list of valid suffixes for a list of valid suffixes. *NoteBlocking
1DONTPRINTYET 11 '--record-size=10K' for 10 Kilobytes. ⇒(tar)for a list of valid suffixes for a list of valid suffixes. ⇒Blocking
Factor, for a detailed description of this option.
1
1 '--recursion'
1
11 With this option, 'tar' recurses into directories (default). ⇒
recurse.
1
1 '--recursive-unlink'
1
1 Remove existing directory hierarchies before extracting directories
1 of the same name from the archive. ⇒Recursive Unlink.
1
1 '--remove-files'
1
1 Directs 'tar' to remove the source file from the file system after
1 appending it to an archive. ⇒remove files.
1
1 '--restrict'
1
1 Disable use of some potentially harmful 'tar' options. Currently
11 this option disables shell invocation from multi-volume menu (⇒
Using Multiple Tapes).
1
1 '--rmt-command=CMD'
1
1 Notifies 'tar' that it should use CMD instead of the default
1 '/usr/libexec/rmt' (⇒Remote Tape Server).
1
1 '--rsh-command=CMD'
1
1 Notifies 'tar' that is should use CMD to communicate with remote
1 devices. ⇒Device.
1
1 '--same-order'
1 '--preserve-order'
1 '-s'
1
1 This option is an optimization for 'tar' when running on machines
1 with small amounts of memory. It informs 'tar' that the list of
1 file arguments has already been sorted to match the order of files
1 in the archive. ⇒Reading.
1
1 '--same-owner'
1
1 When extracting an archive, 'tar' will attempt to preserve the
1 owner specified in the 'tar' archive with this option present.
1 This is the default behavior for the superuser; this option has an
1 effect only for ordinary users. ⇒Attributes.
1
1 '--same-permissions'
1
1 (See '--preserve-permissions'; ⇒Setting Access Permissions.)
1
1 '--seek'
1 '-n'
1
1 Assume that the archive media supports seeks to arbitrary
1 locations. Usually 'tar' determines automatically whether the
1 archive can be seeked or not. This option is intended for use in
1 cases when such recognition fails. It takes effect only if the
1 archive is open for reading (e.g. with '--list' or '--extract'
1 options).
1
1 '--selinux'
11 Enable the SELinux context support. ⇒selinux Extended File
Attributes.
1
1 '--show-defaults'
1
1 Displays the default options used by 'tar' and exits successfully.
1 This option is intended for use in shell scripts. Here is an
1 example of what you can see using this option:
1
1 $ tar --show-defaults
1 --format=gnu -f- -b20 --quoting-style=escape
1 --rmt-command=/usr/libexec/rmt --rsh-command=/usr/bin/rsh
1
1 Notice, that this option outputs only one line. The example output
1 above has been split to fit page boundaries. ⇒defaults.
1
1 '--show-omitted-dirs'
1
1 Instructs 'tar' to mention the directories it is skipping when
1 operating on a 'tar' archive. ⇒show-omitted-dirs.
1
1 '--show-snapshot-field-ranges'
1
1 Displays the range of values allowed by this version of 'tar' for
11 each field in the snapshot file, then exits successfully. ⇒
Snapshot Files.
1
1 '--show-transformed-names'
1 '--show-stored-names'
1
1 Display file or member names after applying any transformations
1 (⇒transform). In particular, when used in conjunction with
1 one of the archive creation operations it instructs 'tar' to list
1 the member names stored in the archive, as opposed to the actual
1 file names. ⇒listing member and file names.
1
1 '--skip-old-files'
1
1 Do not overwrite existing files when extracting files from an
1 archive. ⇒Keep Old Files.
1
1 This option differs from '--keep-old-files' in that it does not
1 treat such files as an error, instead it just silently avoids
1 overwriting them.
1
1 The '--warning=existing-file' option can be used together with this
11 option to produce warning messages about existing old files (⇒
warnings).
1
1 '--sort=ORDER'
1 Specify the directory sorting order when reading directories.
1 ORDER may be one of the following:
1
1 'none'
1 No directory sorting is performed. This is the default.
1
1 'name'
1 Sort the directory entries on name. The operating system may
1 deliver directory entries in a more or less random order, and
1 sorting them makes archive creation reproducible.
1
1 'inode'
1 Sort the directory entries on inode number. Sorting
1 directories on inode number may reduce the amount of disk seek
1 operations when creating an archive for some file systems.
1
1 '--sparse'
1 '-S'
1
1 Invokes a GNU extension when adding files to an archive that
1 handles sparse files efficiently. ⇒sparse.
1
1 '--sparse-version=VERSION'
1
1 Specifies the "format version" to use when archiving sparse files.
1 Implies '--sparse'. ⇒sparse. For the description of the
1 supported sparse formats, ⇒Sparse Formats.
1
1 '--starting-file=NAME'
1 '-K NAME'
1
1 This option affects extraction only; 'tar' will skip extracting
11 files in the archive until it finds one that matches NAME. ⇒
Scarce.
1
1 '--strip-components=NUMBER'
1 Strip given NUMBER of leading components from file names before
1 extraction. For example, if archive 'archive.tar' contained
1 '/some/file/name', then running
1
1 tar --extract --file archive.tar --strip-components=2
1
1 would extract this file to file 'name'.
1
1 ⇒transform.
1
1 '--suffix=SUFFIX'
1
1 Alters the suffix 'tar' uses when backing up files from the default
1 '~'. ⇒backup.
1
1 '--tape-length=NUM[SUF]'
1 '-L NUM[SUF]'
1
1 Specifies the length of tapes that 'tar' is writing as being
1 NUM x 1024 bytes long. If optional SUF is given, it specifies a
1 multiplicative factor to be used instead of 1024. For example,
1 '-L2M' means 2 megabytes. ⇒Table 9.1 size-suffixes, for a
1 list of allowed suffixes. ⇒Using Multiple Tapes, for a
1 detailed discussion of this option.
1
1 '--test-label'
1
1 Reads the volume label. If an argument is specified, test whether
1 it matches the volume label. ⇒--test-label option.
1
1 '--to-command=COMMAND'
1
1 During extraction 'tar' will pipe extracted files to the standard
1 input of COMMAND. ⇒Writing to an External Program.
1
1 '--to-stdout'
1 '-O'
1
1 During extraction, 'tar' will extract files to stdout rather than
1 to the file system. ⇒Writing to Standard Output.
1
1 '--totals[=SIGNO]'
1
1 Displays the total number of bytes transferred when processing an
1 archive. If an argument is given, these data are displayed on
1 request, when signal SIGNO is delivered to 'tar'. ⇒totals.
1
1 '--touch'
1 '-m'
1
1 Sets the data modification time of extracted files to the
1 extraction time, rather than the data modification time stored in
1 the archive. ⇒Data Modification Times.
1
1 '--transform=SED-EXPR'
1 '--xform=SED-EXPR'
1 Transform file or member names using 'sed' replacement expression
1 SED-EXPR. For example,
1
1 $ tar cf archive.tar --transform 's,^\./,usr/,' .
1
1 will add to 'archive' files from the current working directory,
1 replacing initial './' prefix with 'usr/'. For the detailed
1 discussion, ⇒transform.
1
1 To see transformed member names in verbose listings, use
1 '--show-transformed-names' option (⇒show-transformed-names).
1
1 '--uncompress'
1
1 (See '--compress', ⇒gzip)
1
1 '--ungzip'
1
1 (See '--gzip', ⇒gzip)
1
1 '--unlink-first'
1 '-U'
1
1 Directs 'tar' to remove the corresponding file from the file system
1 before extracting it from the archive. ⇒Unlink First.
1
1 '--unquote'
11 Enable unquoting input file or member names (default). ⇒input
name quoting.
1
1 '--use-compress-program=PROG'
1 '-I=PROG'
1
1 Instructs 'tar' to access the archive through PROG, which is
1 presumed to be a compression program of some sort. ⇒gzip.
1
1 '--utc'
1
1 Display file modification dates in UTC. This option implies
1 '--verbose'.
1
1 '--verbatim-files-from'
1
1 Instructs GNU 'tar' to treat each line read from a file list as a
1 file name, even if it starts with a dash.
1
1 File lists are supplied with the '--files-from' ('-T') option. By
1 default, each line read from a file list is first trimmed off the
1 leading and trailing whitespace and, if the result begins with a
1 dash, it is treated as a GNU 'tar' command line option.
1
1 Use the '--verbatim-files-from' option to disable this special
1 handling. This facilitates the use of 'tar' with file lists
1 created by 'file' command.
1
1 This option affects all '--files-from' options that occur after it
1 in the command line. Its effect is reverted by the
1 '--no-verbatim-files-from' option.
1
1 This option is implied by the '--null' option.
1
1 ⇒verbatim-files-from.
1
1 '--verbose'
1 '-v'
1
1 Specifies that 'tar' should be more verbose about the operations it
1 is performing. This option can be specified multiple times for
1 some operations to increase the amount of information displayed.
1 ⇒verbose.
1
1 '--verify'
1 '-W'
1
1 Verifies that the archive was correctly written when creating an
1 archive. ⇒verify.
1
1 '--version'
1
1 Print information about the program's name, version, origin and
1 legal status, all on standard output, and then exit successfully.
1 ⇒help.
1
1 '--volno-file=FILE'
1
1 Used in conjunction with '--multi-volume'. 'tar' will keep track
1 of which volume of a multi-volume archive it is working in FILE.
1 ⇒volno-file.
1
1 '--warning=KEYWORD'
1
1 Enable or disable warning messages identified by KEYWORD. The
11 messages are suppressed if KEYWORD is prefixed with 'no-'. ⇒
warnings.
1
1 '--wildcards'
11 Use wildcards when matching member names with patterns. ⇒
controlling pattern-matching.
1
1 '--wildcards-match-slash'
1 Wildcards match '/'. ⇒controlling pattern-matching.
1
1 '--xattrs'
11 Enable extended attributes support. ⇒xattrs Extended File
Attributes.
1
1 '--xattrs-exclude=PATTERN'
11 Specify exclude pattern for xattr keys. ⇒xattrs-exclude
Extended File Attributes.
1
1 '--xattrs-include=PATTERN.'
1 Specify include pattern for xattr keys. PATTERN is a globbing
1 pattern, e.g. '--xattrs-include='user.*'' to include only
11 attributes from the user namespace. ⇒xattrs-include Extended
File Attributes.
1
1 '--xz'
1 '-J'
11 Use 'xz' for compressing or decompressing the archives. ⇒
gzip.
1
1 ---------- Footnotes ----------
1
1 (1) Earlier versions of GNU 'tar' understood '-l' as a synonym for
1 '--one-file-system'. The current semantics, which complies to UNIX98,
1 was introduced with version 1.15.91. ⇒Changes, for more
1 information.
1