TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) AAAAmmmmiiiiggggaaaaDDDDOOOOSSSS ((((5555 NNNNoooovvvveeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999988887777)))) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE tar - tape (or other media) file archiver SSSSYYYYNNNNOOOOPPPPSSSSIIIISSSS ttttaaaarrrr -[BBBBccccddddDDDDhhhhiiiikkkkllllmmmmooooppppRRRRssssttttvvvvxxxxzzzzZZZZ] [----bbbb _N] [----ffff _F] [----TTTT _F] [ _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e _o_r _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ] DDDDEEEESSSSCCCCRRRRIIIIPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNN _t_a_r provides a way to store many files into a single archive, which can be kept in another Unix file, stored on an I/O device such as tape, floppy, cartridge, or disk, sent over a network, or piped to another program. It is useful for making backup copies, or for packaging up a set of files to move them to another system. _t_a_r has existed since Version 7 Unix with very little change. It has been proposed as the standard format for interchange of files among systems that conform to the IEEE P1003 ``Portable Operating System'' standard. This version of _t_a_r supports some of the extensions which were proposed in the P1003 draft standards, including owner and group names, and support for named pipes, fifos, contiguous files, and block and character devices. When reading an archive, this version of _t_a_r continues after finding an error. Previous versions required the `i' option to ignore checksum errors. OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS _t_a_r options can be specified in either of two ways. The usual Unix conventions can be used: each option is preceded by `-'; arguments directly follow each option; multiple options can be combined behind one `-' as long as they take no arguments. For compatability with the Unix _t_a_r program, the options may also be specified as ``keyletters,'' wherein all the option letters occur in the first argument to _t_a_r, with no `-', and their arguments, if any, occur in the second, third, ... arguments. Examples: Normal: tar -f arcname -cv file1 file2 Old: tar fcv arcname file1 file2 At least one of the ----cccc, ----tttt, ----dddd, or ----xxxx options must be included. The rest are optional. Files to be operated upon are specified by a list of file names, which follows the option specifications (or can be read from a file by the ----TTTT option). Specifying a directory name causes that directory and all the files it contains to be (recursively) processed. If a full path name is Page 1 (printed 3/8/90) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) AAAAmmmmiiiiggggaaaaDDDDOOOOSSSS ((((5555 NNNNoooovvvveeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999988887777)))) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) specified when creating an archive, it will be written to the archive without the initial "/", to allow the files to be later read into a different place than where they were dumped from, and a warning will be printed. If files are extracted from an archive which contains full path names, they will be extracted relative to the current directory and a warning message printed. When extracting or listing files, the ``file names'' are treated as regular expressions, using mostly the same syntax as the shell. The shell actually matches each substring between ``/''s separately, while _t_a_r matches the entire string at once, so some anomalies will occur; e.g. ``*'' or ``?'' can match a ``/''. To specify a regular expression as an argument to _t_a_r, quote it so the shell will not expand it. ----aaaa Set the archived bit of the file as it is added to the archive. (Amiga only) ----AAAA Do not add the file to the archive if its archived bit is set. Applies only to regular files, directories are always dumped (Amiga only) ----bbbb _N Specify a blocking factor for the archive. The block size will be _N x 512 bytes. Larger blocks typically run faster and let you fit more data on a tape. The default blocking factor is set when _t_a_r is compiled, and is typically 20. There is no limit to the maximum block size, as long as enough memory can be allocated for it, and as long as the device containing the archive can read or write that block size. ----BBBB When reading an archive, reblock it as we read it. Normally, _t_a_r reads each block with a single _r_e_a_d(_2) system call. This does not work when reading from a pipe or network socket under Berkeley Unix; _r_e_a_d(_2) only gives as much data as has arrived at the moment. With this option, it will do multiple _r_e_a_d(_2)s to fill out to a record boundary, rather than reporting an error. This option is default when reading an archive from standard input, or over a network. ----cccc Create an archive from a list of files. ----dddd Diff an archive against the files in the file system. Reports differences in file size, mode, uid, gid, and contents. If a file exists on the tape, but not in the file system, that is reported. This option needs further work to be really useful. ----DDDD When creating an archive, only dump each directory Page 2 (printed 3/8/90) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) AAAAmmmmiiiiggggaaaaDDDDOOOOSSSS ((((5555 NNNNoooovvvveeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999988887777)))) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) itself; don't dump all the files inside the directory. In conjunction with _f_i_n_d(1), this is useful in creating incremental dumps for archival backups, similar to those produced by _d_u_m_p(8). ----ffff _F Specify the filename of the archive. If the specified filename is ``-'', the archive is read from the standard input or written to the standard output. If the ----ffff option is not used, and the environment variable TTTTAAAAPPPPEEEE exists, its value will be used; otherwise, a default archive name (which was picked when tar was compiled) is used. The default is normally set to the ``first'' tape drive or other transportable I/O medium on the system. If the filename contains a colon before a slash, it is interpreted as a ``hostname:/file/name'' pair. _t_a_r will invoke the commands _r_s_h and _d_d to access the specified file or device on the system _h_o_s_t_n_a_m_e. If you need to do something unusual like rsh with a different user name, use ``----ffff ----'' and pipe it to rsh manually. ----hhhh When creating an archive, if a symbolic link is encountered, dump the file or directory to which it points, rather than dumping it as a symbolic link. (Does not apply to Amiga) ----iiii When reading an archive, ignore blocks of zeros in the archive. Normally a block of zeros indicates the end of the archive, but in a damaged archive, or one which was created by appending several archives, this option allows _t_a_r to continue. It is not on by default because there is garbage written after the zeroed blocks by the Unix _t_a_r program. Note that with this option set, _t_a_r will read all the way to the end of the file, eliminating problems with multi-file tapes. ----kkkk When extracting files from an archive, keep existing files, rather than overwriting them with the version from the archive. ----llll When dumping the contents of a directory to an archive, stay within the local file system of that directory. This option only affects the files dumped because they are in a dumped directory; files named on the command line are always dumped, and they can be from various file systems. This is useful for making ``full dump'' archival backups of a file system, as with the _d_u_m_p(8) command. Files which are skipped due to this option are mentioned on the standard error. Page 3 (printed 3/8/90) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) AAAAmmmmiiiiggggaaaaDDDDOOOOSSSS ((((5555 NNNNoooovvvveeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999988887777)))) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) ----mmmm When extracting files from an archive, set each file's modified timestamp to the current time, rather than extracting each file's modified timestamp from the archive. ----oooo When creating an archive, write an old format archive, which does not include information about directories, pipes, fifos, contiguous files, or device files, and specifies file ownership by uid's and gid's rather than by user names and group names. In most cases, a ``new'' format archive can be read by an ``old'' tar program without serious trouble, so this option should seldom be needed. ----pppp When extracting files from an archive, restore them to the same permissions that they had in the archive. If ----pppp is not specified, the current umask limits the permissions of the extracted files. See _u_m_a_s_k(_2). (Does not apply to Amiga version, permission always completely restored) ----RRRR With each message that _t_a_r produces, print the record number within the archive where the message occurred. This option is especially useful when reading damaged archives, since it helps to pinpoint the damaged section. ----ssss When specifying a list of filenames to be listed or extracted from an archive, the ----ssss flag specifies that the list is sorted into the same order as the tape. This allows a large list to be used, even on small machines, because the entire list need not be read into memory at once. Such a sorted list can easily be created by running ``tar -t'' on the archive and editing its output. ----tttt List a table of contents of an existing archive. If file names are specified, just list files matching the specified names. The listing appears on the standard output. ----TTTT _F Rather than specifying file names or regular expressions as arguments to the _t_a_r command, this option specifies that they should be read from the file _F, one per line. If the file name specified is ``-'', the list is read from the standard input. This option, in conjunction with the ----ssss option, allows an arbitrarily large list of files to be processed, and allows the list to be piped to _t_a_r. ----vvvv Be verbose about the files that are being processed or listed. Normally, archive creation, file extraction, Page 4 (printed 3/8/90) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) AAAAmmmmiiiiggggaaaaDDDDOOOOSSSS ((((5555 NNNNoooovvvveeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999988887777)))) TTTTAAAARRRR((((1111)))) and differencing are silent, and archive listing just gives file names. The ----vvvv option causes an ``ls -l''-like listing to be produced. The output from -v appears on the standard output except when creating an archive (since the new archive might be on standard output), where it goes to the standard error output. ----xxxx Extract files from an existing archive. If file names are specified, just extract files matching the specified names, otherwise extract all the files in the archive. ----zzzz or ----ZZZZ The archive should be compressed as it is written, or decompressed as it is read, using the _c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s(_1) program. This option works on I/O devices and over the network, as well as on disk files; data to or from such devices is reblocked using a ``dd'' command to enforce the specified (or default) block size. The default compression parameters are used; if you need to override them, avoid the ``z'' option and compress it yourself. (Not currently supported on Amiga) SSSSEEEEEEEE AAAALLLLSSSSOOOO shar(1), tar(5), compress(1), ar(1), arc(1), cpio(1), dump(8), restore(8), restor(8), rsh(1), dd(1), find(1) BBBBUUUUGGGGSSSS The rrrr,,,, uuuu,,,, wwww,,,, XXXX,,,, llll,,,, FFFF,,,, CCCC, and _d_i_g_i_t options of Unix _t_a_r are not supported. Multiple-tape (or floppy) archives should be supported, but so far no clean way has been implemented. A bug in the Bourne Shell usually causes an extra newline to be written to the standard error when using compressed or remote archives. A bug in ``dd'' prevents turning off the ``x+y records in/out'' messages on the standard error when ``dd'' is used to reblock or transport an archive. Page 5 (printed 3/8/90)