tar(1) User Commands tar(1)NAMEtar - create tape archives and add or extract files
SYNOPSIStar c[BDeEFhilnopPqTvw@/[0-7]][bfk][X...] [blocksize]
[tarfile] [size] [exclude-file]...
{file | −I include-file | −C directory file}...
tar r[BDeEFhilnqTvw@/[0-7]][bfk] [blocksize] [tarfile]
[size]
{file | −I include-file | −C directory file}...
tar t[BeFhilnqTv[0-7]][fk][X...] [tarfile] [size]
[exclude-file]... {file | −I include-file}...
tar u[BDeEFhilnqTvw@/[0-7]][bfk] [blocksize] [tarfile]
[size] file...
tar x[BeFhilmnopqTvw@/[0-7]][fk][X...] [tarfile] [size]
[exclude-file]... [file]...
DESCRIPTION
The tar command archives and extracts files to and from a single file
called a tarfile. A tarfile is usually a magnetic tape, but it can be
any file. tar's actions are controlled by the key argument. The key is
a string of characters containing exactly one function letter (c, r, t
, u, or x) and zero or more function modifiers (letters or digits),
depending on the function letter used. The key string contains no SPACE
characters. Function modifier arguments are listed on the command line
in the same order as their corresponding function modifiers appear in
the key string.
The −I include-file, −C directory file, and file arguments specify
which files or directories are to be archived or extracted. In all
cases, appearance of a directory name refers to the files and (recur‐
sively) subdirectories of that directory. Arguments appearing within
braces ({ }) indicate that one of the arguments must be specified.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
−C directory file
Performs a chdir (see cd(1)) operation on directory and performs
the c (create) or r (replace) operation on file. Use short relative
path names for file. If file is ".", archive all files in direc‐
tory. This operand enables archiving files from multiple directo‐
ries not related by a close common parent.
−I include-file
Opens include-file containing a list of files, one per line, and
treats it as if each file appeared separately on the command line.
Be careful of trailing white spaces. Also beware of leading white
spaces, since, for each line in the included file, the entire line
(apart from the newline) is used to match against the initial
string of files to include. In the case where excluded files (see X
function modifier) are also specified, they take precedence over
all included files. If a file is specified in both the exclude-file
and the include-file (or on the command line), it is excluded.
file
A path name of a regular file or directory to be archived (when the
c, r or u functions are specified), extracted (x) or listed (t).
When file is the path name of a directory, the action applies to
all of the files and (recursively) subdirectories of that direc‐
tory.
When a file is archived, and the E flag (see Function Modifiers) is
not specified, the filename cannot exceed 256 characters. In addi‐
tion, it must be possible to split the name between parent direc‐
tory names so that the prefix is no longer than 155 characters and
the name is no longer than 100 characters. If E is specified, a
name of up to PATH_MAX characters can be specified.
For example, a file whose basename is longer than 100 characters
could not be archived without using the E flag. A file whose direc‐
tory portion is 200 characters and whose basename is 50 characters
could be archived (without using E) if a slash appears in the
directory name somewhere in character positions 151-156.
Function Letters
The function portion of the key is specified by one of the following
letters:
c
Create. Writing begins at the beginning of the tarfile, instead of
at the end.
r
Replace. The named files are written at the end of the tarfile. A
file created with extended headers must be updated with extended
headers (see E flag under Function Modifiers). A file created with‐
out extended headers cannot be modified with extended headers.
t
Table of Contents. The names of the specified files are listed each
time they occur in the tarfile. If no file argument is specified,
the names of all files and any associated extended attributes in
the tarfile are listed. With the v function modifier, additional
information for the specified files is displayed.
u
Update. The named files are written at the end of the tarfile if
they are not already in the tarfile, or if they have been modified
since last written to that tarfile. An update can be rather slow. A
tarfile created on a 5.x system cannot be updated on a 4.x system.
A file created with extended headers must be updated with extended
headers (see E flag under Function Modifiers). A file created with‐
out extended headers cannot be modified with extended headers.
x
Extract or restore. The named files are extracted from the tarfile
and written to the directory specified in the tarfile, relative to
the current directory. Use the relative path names of files and
directories to be extracted.
Absolute path names contained in the tar archive are unpacked using
the absolute path names, that is, the leading forward slash (/) is
not stripped off.
If a named file matches a directory whose contents has been written
to the tarfile, this directory is recursively extracted. The owner,
modification time, and mode are restored (if possible); otherwise,
to restore owner, you must be the super-user. Character-special and
block-special devices (created by mknod(1M)) can only be extracted
by the super-user. If no file argument is specified, the entire
content of the tarfile is extracted. If the tarfile contains sev‐
eral files with the same name, each file is written to the appro‐
priate directory, overwriting the previous one. Filename substitu‐
tion wildcards cannot be used for extracting files from the ar‐
chive. Rather, use a command of the form:
tar xvf ... /dev/rmt/0 `tar tf ... /dev/rmt/0 | \
grep 'pattern' `
When extracting tapes created with the r or u functions, directory mod‐
ification times can not be set correctly. These same functions cannot
be used with many tape drives due to tape drive limitations such as the
absence of backspace or append capabilities.
When using the r, u, or x functions or the X function modifier, the
named files must match exactly the corresponding files in the tarfile.
For example, to extract ./thisfile, you must specify ./thisfile, and
not thisfile. The t function displays how each file was archived.
Function Modifiers
The characters below can be used in conjunction with the letter that
selects the desired function.
b blocksize
Blocking Factor. Use when reading or writing to raw magnetic ar‐
chives (see f below). The blocksize argument specifies the number
of 512-byte tape blocks to be included in each read or write opera‐
tion performed on the tarfile. The minimum is 1, the default is 20.
The maximum value is a function of the amount of memory available
and the blocking requirements of the specific tape device involved
(see mtio(7I) for details.) The maximum cannot exceed INT_MAX/512
(4194303).
When a tape archive is being read, its actual blocking factor is
automatically detected, provided that it is less than or equal to
the nominal blocking factor (the value of the blocksize argument,
or the default value if the b modifier is not specified). If the
actual blocking factor is greater than the nominal blocking factor,
a read error results. See Example 5 in EXAMPLES.
B
Block. Force tar to perform multiple reads (if necessary) to read
exactly enough bytes to fill a block. This function modifier
enables tar to work across the Ethernet, since pipes and sockets
return partial blocks even when more data is coming. When reading
from standard input, "−", this function modifier is selected by
default to ensure that tar can recover from short reads.
D
Data change warnings. Used with c, r, or u function letters.
Ignored with t or x function letters. If the size of a file changes
while the file is being archived, treat this condition as a warning
instead of as an error. A warning message is still written, but the
exit status is not affected.
e
Error. Exit immediately with a positive exit status if any unex‐
pected errors occur. The SYSV3 environment variable overrides the
default behavior. (See ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section below.)
E
Write a tarfile with extended headers. (Used with c, r, or u func‐
tion letters. Ignored with t or x function letters.) When a tarfile
is written with extended headers, the modification time is main‐
tained with a granularity of microseconds rather than seconds. In
addition, filenames no longer than PATH_MAX characters that could
not be archived without E, and file sizes greater than 8GB, are
supported. The E flag is required whenever the larger files and/or
files with longer names, or whose UID/GID exceed 2097151, are to be
archived, or if time granularity of microseconds is desired.
f
File. Use the tarfile argument as the name of the tarfile. If f is
specified, /etc/default/tar is not searched. If f is omitted, tar
uses the device indicated by the TAPE environment variable, if set.
Otherwise, tar uses the default values defined in /etc/default/tar.
The number matching the archiveN string is used as the output
device with the blocking and size specifications from the file. For
example,
tar-c 2/tmp/*
writes the output to the device specified as archive2 in
/etc/default/tar.
If the name of the tarfile is "−", tar writes to the standard out‐
put or reads from the standard input, whichever is appropriate. tar
can be used as the head or tail of a pipeline. tar can also be used
to move hierarchies with the command:
example% cd fromdir; tar cf − .| (cd todir; tar xfBp −)
F
With one F argument, tar excludes all directories named SCCS and
RCS from the tarfile. With two arguments, FF, tar excludes all
directories named SCCS and RCS, all files with .o as their suffix,
and all files named errs, core, and a.out. The SYSV3 environment
variable overrides the default behavior. (See ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
section below.)
h
Follow symbolic links as if they were normal files or directories.
Normally, tar does not follow symbolic links.
i
Ignore directory checksum errors.
k size
Requires tar to use the size argument as the size of an archive in
kilobytes. This is useful when the archive is intended for a fixed
size device such as floppy disks. Large files are then split across
volumes if they do not fit in the specified size.
l
Link. Output error message if unable to resolve all links to the
files being archived. If l is not specified, no error messages are
printed.
m
Modify. The modification time of the file is the time of extrac‐
tion. This function modifier is valid only with the x function.
n
The file being read is a non-tape device. Reading of the archive is
faster since tar can randomly seek around the archive.
o
Ownership. Assign to extracted files the user and group identifiers
of the user running the program, rather than those on tarfile. This
is the default behavior for users other than root. If the o func‐
tion modifier is not set and the user is root, the extracted files
takes on the group and user identifiers of the files on tarfile
(see chown(1) for more information). The o function modifier is
only valid with the x function.
p
Restore the named files to their original modes, and ACLs if appli‐
cable, ignoring the present umask(1). This is the default behavior
if invoked as super-user with the x function letter specified. If
super-user, SETUID, and sticky information are also extracted, and
files are restored with their original owners and permissions,
rather than owned by root. When this function modifier is used with
the c function, ACLs are created in the tarfile along with other
information. Errors occur when a tarfile with ACLs is extracted by
previous versions of tar.
P
Suppress the addition of a trailing "/" on directory entries in the
archive.
q
Stop after extracting the first occurrence of the named file. tar
normally continues reading the archive after finding an occurrence
of a file.
T
This modifier is only available if the system is configured with
Trusted Extensions.
When this modifier is used with the function letter c, r, or u for
creating, replacing or updating a tarfile, the sensitivity label
associated with each archived file and directory is stored in the
tarfile.
Specifying T implies the function modifier p.
When used with the function letter x for extracting a tarfile, the
tar program verifies that the file's sensitivity label specified in
the archive equals the sensitivity label of the destination direc‐
tory. If not, the file is not restored. This operation must be
invoked from the global zone. If the archived file has a relative
pathname, it is restored to the corresponding directory with the
same label, if available. This is done by prepending to the current
destination directory the root pathname of the zone whose label
equals the file. If no such zone exists, the file is not restored.
Limited support is provided for extracting labeled archives from
Trusted Solaris 8. Only sensitivity labels, and multi-level direc‐
tory specifications are interpreted. Privilege specifications and
audit attribute flags are silently ignored. Multilevel directory
specifications including symbolic links to single level directories
are are mapped into zone-relative pathnames if a zone with the same
label is available. This support is intended to facilitate migra‐
tion of home directories. Architectural differences preclude the
extraction of arbitrarily labeled files from Trusted Solaris 8 into
identical pathnames in Trusted Extensions. Files cannot be
extracted unless their archived label matches the destination
label.
v
Verbose. Output the name of each file preceded by the function let‐
ter. With the t function, v provides additional information about
the tarfile entries. The listing is similar to the format produced
by the -l option of the ls(1) command.
w
What. Output the action to be taken and the name of the file, then
await the user's confirmation. If the response is affirmative, the
action is performed; otherwise, the action is not performed. This
function modifier cannot be used with the t function.
X
Exclude. Use the exclude-file argument as a file containing a list
of relative path names for files (or directories) to be excluded
from the tarfile when using the functions c, x, or t. Be careful of
trailing white spaces. Also beware of leading white spaces, since,
for each line in the excluded file, the entire line (apart from the
newline) is used to match against the initial string of files to
exclude. Lines in the exclude file are matched exactly, so an entry
like "/var" does not exclude the /var directory if tar is backing
up relative pathnames. The entry should read "./var" under these
circumstances. The tar command does not expand shell metacharacters
in the exclude file, so specifying entries like "*.o" does not have
the effect of excluding all files with names suffixed with ".o". If
a complex list of files is to be excluded, the exclude file should
be generated by some means such as the find(1) command with appro‐
priate conditions.
Multiple X arguments can be used, with one exclude-file per argu‐
ment. In the case where included files (see −I include-file oper‐
and) are also specified, the excluded files take precedence over
all included files. If a file is specified in both the exclude-file
and the include-file (or on the command line), it is excluded.
@
Include extended attributes in archive. By default, tar does not
place extended attributes in the archive. With this flag, tar looks
for extended attributes on the files to be placed in the archive
and add them to the archive. Extended attributes go in the archive
as special files with a special type label. When this modifier is
used with the x function, extended attributes are extracted from
the tape along with the normal file data. Extended attribute files
can only be extracted from an archive as part of a normal file
extract. Attempts to explicitly extract attribute records are
ignored.
/
Include extended system attributes in archive. By default, tar does
not place extended system attributes in the archive. With this
flag, tar looks for extended system attributes on the files to be
placed in the archive and adds them to the archive. Extended system
attributes go in the archive as special files with a special type
label. When this modifier is used with the x function, extended
system attributes are extracted from the tape along with the normal
file data. Extended system attribute files can only be extracted
from an archive as part of a normal file extract. Attempts to
explicitly extract attribute records are ignored.
[0-7]
Select an alternative drive on which the tape is mounted. The
default entries are specified in /etc/default/tar. If no digit or f
function modifier is specified, the entry in /etc/default/tar with
digit "0" is the default.
USAGE
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of tar when
encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
The automatic determination of the actual blocking factor can be fooled
when reading from a pipe or a socket (see the B function modifier
below).
1/4" streaming tape has an inherent blocking factor of one 512-byte
block. It can be read or written using any blocking factor.
This function modifier works for archives on disk files and block spe‐
cial devices, among others, but is intended principally for tape
devices.
For information on tar header format, see archives.h(3HEAD).
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Creating an archive of your home directory
The following is an example using tar to create an archive of your home
directory on a tape mounted on drive /dev/rmt/0:
example% cd
example% tar cvf /dev/rmt/0 .
messages from tar
The c function letter means create the archive. The v function modifier
outputs messages explaining what tar is doing. The f function modifier
indicates that the tarfile is being specified (/dev/rmt/0 in this exam‐
ple). The dot (.) at the end of the command line indicates the current
directory and is the argument of the f function modifier.
Display the table of contents of the tarfile with the following com‐
mand:
example% tar tvf /dev/rmt/0
The output is similar to the following for the POSIX locale:
rw−r−−r−− 1677/40 2123 Nov 7 18:15 1985 ./test.c
...
example%
The columns have the following meanings:
o column 1 is the access permissions to ./test.c
o column 2 is the user-id/group-id of ./test.c
o column 3 is the size of ./test.c in bytes
o column 4 is the modification date of ./test.c. When the
LC_TIME category is not set to the POSIX locale, a different
format and date order field can be used.
o column 5 is the name of ./test.c
To extract files from the archive:
example% tar xvf /dev/rmt/0
messages from tar
example%
If there are multiple archive files on a tape, each is separated from
the following one by an EOF marker. To have tar read the first and sec‐
ond archives from a tape with multiple archives on it, the non-rewind‐
ing version of the tape device name must be used with the f function
modifier, as follows:
example% tar xvfp /dev/rmt/0n read first archive from tape
messages from tar
example% tar xvfp /dev/rmt/0n read second archive from tape
messages from tar
example%
Notice that in some earlier releases, the above scenario did not work
correctly, and intervention with mt(1) between tar invocations was nec‐
essary. To emulate the old behavior, use the non-rewind device name
containing the letter b for BSD behavior. See the Close Operations sec‐
tion of the mtio(7I) manual page.
Example 2 Archiving files from /usr/include and from /etc to default
tape drive 0
To archive files from /usr/include and from /etc to default tape drive
0:
example% tar c -C /usr include -C /etc .
The table of contents from the resulting tarfile would produce output
like the following:
include/
include/a.out.h
and all the other files in /usr/include ...
./chown and all the other files in /etc
To extract all files in the include directory:
example% tar xv include
x include/, 0 bytes, 0 tape blocks \
and all files under include ...
Example 3 Transferring files across the network
The following is an example using tar to transfer files across the net‐
work. First, here is how to archive files from the local machine (exam‐
ple) to a tape on a remote system (host):
example% tar cvfb − 20 files| \
rsh host dd of=/dev/rmt/0 obs=20b
messages from tar
example%
In the example above, we are creating a tarfile with the c key letter,
asking for verbose output from tar with the v function modifier, speci‐
fying the name of the output tarfile using the f function modifier (the
standard output is where the tarfile appears, as indicated by the `−'
sign), and specifying the blocksize (20) with the b function modifier.
If you want to change the blocksize, you must change the blocksize
arguments both on the tar command and on the dd command.
Example 4 Retrieving files from a tape on the remote system back to the
local system
The following is an example that uses tar to retrieve files from a tape
on the remote system back to the local system:
example% rsh -n host dd if=/dev/rmt/0 bs=20b | \
tar xvBfb − 20 files
messages from tar
example%
In the example above, we are extracting from the tarfile with the x key
letter, asking for verbose output from tar with the v function modi‐
fier, telling tar it is reading from a pipe with the B function modi‐
fier, specifying the name of the input tarfile using the f function
modifier (the standard input is where the tarfile appears, as indicated
by the "−" sign), and specifying the blocksize (20) with the b function
modifier.
Example 5 Creating an archive of the home directory
The following example creates an archive of the home directory on
/dev/rmt/0 with an actual blocking factor of 19:
example% tar cvfb /dev/rmt/0 19 $HOME
To recognize this archive's actual blocking factor without using the b
function modifier:
example% tar tvf /dev/rmt/0
tar: blocksize = 19
...
To recognize this archive's actual blocking factor using a larger nomi‐
nal blocking factor:
example% tar tvf /dev/rmt/0 30
tar: blocksize = 19
...
Attempt to recognize this archive's actual blocking factor using a nom‐
inal blocking factor that is too small:
example% tar tvf /dev/rmt/0 10
tar: tape read error
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
SYSV3
This variable is used to override the default behavior of tar, pro‐
vide compatibility with INTERACTIVE UNIX Systems and SCO UNIX
installation scripts, and should not be used in new scripts. (It is
intended for compatibility purposes only.) When set, the following
function modifiers behave differently:
F filename
Uses filename to obtain a list of command line switches and
files on which to operate.
e
Prevents files from being split across volumes. If there is
insufficient room on one volume, tar prompts for a new volume.
If the file does not fit on the new volume, tar exits with an
error.
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of tar: LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES,
LC_TIME, TZ, and NLSPATH.
Affirmative responses are processed using the extended regular expres‐
sion defined for the yesexpr keyword in the LC_MESSAGES category of the
user's locale. The locale specified in the LC_COLLATE category defines
the behavior of ranges, equivalence classes, and multi-character col‐
lating elements used in the expression defined for yesexpr. The locale
specified in LC_CTYPE determines the locale for interpretation of
sequences of bytes of text data a characters, the behavior of character
classes used in the expression defined for the yesexpr. See locale(5).
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0
Successful completion.
>0
An error occurred.
FILES
/dev/rmt/[0-7][b][n]
/dev/rmt/[0-7]l[b][n]
/dev/rmt/[0-7]m[b][n]
/dev/rmt/[0-7]h[b][n]
/dev/rmt/[0-7]u[b][n]
/dev/rmt/[0-7]c[b][n]
/etc/default/tar
Settings might look like this:
archive0=/dev/rmt/0
archive1=/dev/rmt/0n
archive2=/dev/rmt/1
archive3=/dev/rmt/1n
archive4=/dev/rmt/0
archive5=/dev/rmt/0n
archive6=/dev/rmt/1
archive7=/dev/rmt/1n
/tmp/tar*
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │SUNWcs │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│CSI │Enabled │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │Committed │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOar(1), basename(1), cd(1), chown(1), cpio(1), csh(1), dirname(1),
find(1), ls(1), mt(1), pax(1), setfacl(1), umask(1), mknod(1M), ar‐
chives.h(3HEAD), attributes(5), environ(5), fsattr(5), largefile(5),
mtio(7I)DIAGNOSTICS
Diagnostic messages are output for bad key characters and tape
read/write errors, and for insufficient memory to hold the link tables.
NOTES
There is no way to access the n-th occurrence of a file.
Tape errors are handled ungracefully.
The tar archive format allows UIDs and GIDs up to 2097151 to be stored
in the archive header. Files with UIDs and GIDs greater than this value
is archived with the UID and GID of 60001.
If an archive is created that contains files whose names were created
by processes running in multiple locales, a single locale that uses a
full 8-bit codeset (for example, the en_US locale) should be used both
to create the archive and to extract files from the archive.
Neither the r function letter nor the u function letter can be used
with quarter-inch archive tapes, since these tape drives cannot
backspace.
Since tar has no options, the standard "−−" argument that is normally
used in other utilities to terminate recognition of options is not
needed. If used, it is recognized only as the first argument and is
ignored.
Since −C directory file and −I include-file are multi-argument oper‐
ands, any of the following methods can be used to archive or extract a
file named −C or −I:
1. Specify them using file operands containing a / character on
the command line (such as /home/joe/−C or ./−I).
2. Include them in an include file with −I include-file.
3. Specify the directory in which the file resides:
-C directory -C
or
-C directory -I
4. Specify the entire directory in which the file resides:
-C directory .
SunOS 5.11 26 Oct 2007 tar(1)
