V10/man/man1/tar.1

.TH TAR 1
.CT 1 comm_dev
.SH NAME
tar \- tape archiver
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B tar
.I key
[
.I file ...
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
.I Tar
saves and restores files, normally on magnetic
on tape.
The
.I key
is a string that contains
at most one function letter plus optional modifiers.
Other arguments to the command are names of
files or directories to be dumped or restored.
A directory name implies all the contained
files and subdirectories (recursively).
.PP
The function is one of the following letters:
.TP
.B  r
The named files
are written
on the end of the tape.
.TP
.B  x
Extract the named files from the tape.
If a file is a directory, the directory is extracted recursively.
Owners and modes are restored if possible.
If no file argument is given, extract the entire tape.
If the tape contains multiple entries for a file,
the latest one wins.
.TP
.B  t
List all occurrences of each 
.I file
on tape, or of all files if there are no
.I file
arguments.
.TP
.B  u
Add the named files if they
are not on the tape or are newer than the tape version.
.TP
.B  c
Create a new tape; writing begins at the beginning
of the tape instead of after the last file.
.TP
.B  o
Omit owner and modes
of directories, for compatibility with
old versions of
.I tar.
.TP
.B  p
Restore files to their original modes,
ignoring the present
.IR umask (2).
Setuid and sticky information
will be restored when
.IR tar
is executed by the super-user.
.PP
The modifiers are:
.TP
.BR  0 ,..., 7
Select a tape drive.
The default is
.BR 1 .
Incompatible with modifier
.BR f .
.TP
.B  v
(verbose)
Print the name of each file treated
preceded by the function letter.
With 
.BR t ,
give more details about the
tape entries.
.TP
.B  w
Print the action to be taken followed by file name, then
wait for user confirmation.
If the answer begins with
.LR y ,
the action is performed.
Any other input means
don't do it.
.TP
.B f
Use the next argument as the name of the archive instead of
the default
.F /dev/rmt1 .
If the name of the file is 
.LR - ,
tar writes to
standard output or reads from standard input, whichever is
appropriate.
.I Tar
can be used to move hierarchies thus:
.IP
.L
	(cd fromdir; tar cf - .) | (cd todir; tar xf -)
.TP
.BI b 
Write output in
.IR n \(mu512-byte
blocks, where
.I n
is the next argument,
default 20, maximum 40.
Useful for raw magnetic tape archives (see
.B f
above); destructive for disk archives.
.TP
.B l
Complain if links cannot be resolved.
If
.B l
is not specified, no
error messages are printed.
.TP
.B L
Write information needed to re-create symbolic links
on the tape instead of following the links.
Tapes thus written cannot be read on older versions of
.I tar .
.SH FILES
.F /dev/rmt?
.br
.F /tmp/tar*
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR cpio (1),
.IR bundle (1),
.IR mt (4)
.SH BUGS
There is no way to ask for any but the last
occurrence of a file.
.br
Tape errors are handled ungracefully.
.br
The
.B u
option can be slow, and works only with archives on disk files.
.br
File names are limited to
100 characters.