Provided by: tar_1.29b-2ubuntu0.4_amd64 bug

NAME

       tar - an archiving utility

SYNOPSIS

   Traditional usage
       tar {A|c|d|r|t|u|x}[GnSkUWOmpsMBiajJzZhPlRvwo] [ARG...]

   UNIX-style usage
       tar -A [OPTIONS] ARCHIVE ARCHIVE

       tar -c [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar -d [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar -t [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

       tar -r [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar -u [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar -x [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

   GNU-style usage
       tar {--catenate|--concatenate} [OPTIONS] ARCHIVE ARCHIVE

       tar --create [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar {--diff|--compare} [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar --delete [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

       tar --append [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar --list [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

       tar --test-label [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [LABEL...]

       tar --update [--file ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar --update [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

       tar {--extract|--get} [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [MEMBER...]

NOTE

       This  manpage  is  a  short  description of GNU tar.  For a detailed discussion, including
       examples and usage recommendations, refer to the  GNU  Tar  Manual  available  in  texinfo
       format.   If  the  info  reader  and  the tar documentation are properly installed on your
       system, the command

           info tar

       should give you access to the complete manual.

       You can also view the manual using the info mode  in  emacs(1),  or  find  it  in  various
       formats online at

           http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual

       If any discrepancies occur between this manpage and the GNU Tar Manual, the later shall be
       considered the authoritative source.

DESCRIPTION

       GNU tar is an archiving program designed to store multiple files  in  a  single  file  (an
       archive),  and to manipulate such archives.  The archive can be either a regular file or a
       device (e.g. a tape drive, hence the name of the program, which stands for tape archiver),
       which can be located either on the local or on a remote machine.

   Option styles
       Options  to  GNU  tar  can  be given in three different styles.  In traditional style, the
       first argument is a  cluster  of  option  letters  and  all  subsequent  arguments  supply
       arguments to those options that require them.  The arguments are read in the same order as
       the option letters.  Any command line  words  that  remain  after  all  options  has  been
       processed are treated as non-optional arguments: file or archive member names.

       For example, the c option requires creating the archive, the v option requests the verbose
       operation, and the f option takes an argument that sets the name of the archive to operate
       upon.  The following command, written in the traditional style, instructs tar to store all
       files from the directory /etc into the archive file etc.tar verbosely  listing  the  files
       being archived:

       tar cfv a.tar /etc

       In  UNIX  or  short-option style, each option letter is prefixed with a single dash, as in
       other command line utilities.  If an option  takes  argument,  the  argument  follows  it,
       either  as a separate command line word, or immediately following the option.  However, if
       the option takes an optional argument, the argument must follow the option letter  without
       any intervening whitespace, as in -g/tmp/snar.db.

       Any  number of options not taking arguments can be clustered together after a single dash,
       e.g. -vkp.  Options that take arguments (whether mandatory or optional), can appear at the
       end of such a cluster, e.g. -vkpf a.tar.

       The example command above written in the short-option style could look like:

       tar -cvf a.tar /etc
       or
       tar -c -v -f a.tar /etc

       In GNU or long-option style, each option begins with two dashes and has a meaningful name,
       consisting of  lower-case  letters  and  dashes.   When  used,  the  long  option  can  be
       abbreviated  to  its  initial  letters,  provided  that  this  does  not create ambiguity.
       Arguments to long options are supplied either as a separate command line word, immediately
       following  the  option, or separated from the option by an equals sign with no intervening
       whitespace.  Optional arguments must always use the latter method.

       Here are several ways of writing the example command in this style:

       tar --create --file a.tar --verbose /etc
       or (abbreviating some options):
       tar --cre --file=a.tar --verb /etc

       The options in all three styles can be intermixed, although doing so with old  options  is
       not encouraged.

   Operation mode
       The  options  listed  in  the  table  below  tell GNU tar what operation it is to perform.
       Exactly one of them must be given.  Meaning  of  non-optional  arguments  depends  on  the
       operation mode requested.

       -A, --catenate, --concatenate
              Append  archive  to  the  end of another archive.  The arguments are treated as the
              names of archives to append.  All archives must  be  of  the  same  format  as  the
              archive  they  are  appended  to, otherwise the resulting archive might be unusable
              with non-GNU implementations of tar.  Notice also that when more than  one  archive
              is  given, the members from archives other than the first one will be accessible in
              the resulting archive only if using the -i (--ignore-zeros) option.

              Compressed archives cannot be concatenated.

       -c, --create
              Create a new archive.  Arguments supply the names of  the  files  to  be  archived.
              Directories are archived recursively, unless the --no-recursion option is given.

       -d, --diff, --compare
              Find  differences  between archive and file system.  The arguments are optional and
              specify archive members to compare.  If not given, the current working directory is
              assumed.

       --delete
              Delete  from  the archive.  The arguments supply names of the archive members to be
              removed.  At least one argument must be given.

              This option does not operate on compressed archives.   There  is  no  short  option
              equivalent.

       -r, --append
              Append  files  to the end of an archive.  Arguments have the same meaning as for -c
              (--create).

       -t, --list
              List the contents of an archive.  Arguments are optional.  When given, they specify
              the names of the members to list.

       --test-label
              Test the archive volume label and exit.  When used without arguments, it prints the
              volume label (if any) and exits with status 0.   When  one  or  more  command  line
              arguments  are  given.  tar compares the volume label with each argument.  It exits
              with code 0 if a match  is  found,  and  with  code  1  otherwise.   No  output  is
              displayed, unless used together with the -v (--verbose) option.

              There is no short option equivalent for this option.

       -u, --update
              Append files which are newer than the corresponding copy in the archive.  Arguments
              have the same meaning as with -c and -r options.

       -x, --extract, --get
              Extract files from an archive.  Arguments are optional.  When given,  they  specify
              names of the archive members to be extracted.

       --show-defaults
              Show built-in defaults for various tar options and exit.  No arguments are allowed.

       -?, --help
              Display a short option summary and exit.  No arguments allowed.

       --usage
              Display a list of available options and exit.  No arguments allowed.

       --version
              Print program version and copyright information and exit.

OPTIONS

   Operation modifiers
       --check-device
              Check device numbers when creating incremental archives (default).

       -g, --listed-incremental=FILE
              Handle  new  GNU-format  incremental backups.  FILE is the name of a snapshot file,
              where tar stores additional information which is used to decide which files changed
              since  the  previous  incremental dump and, consequently, must be dumped again.  If
              FILE does not exist when creating an archive, it will be created and all files will
              be  added  to  the  resulting  archive  (the  level 0 dump).  To create incremental
              archives of non-zero level N, create a copy of the snapshot file created during the
              level N-1, and use it as FILE.

              When  listing  or  extracting,  the actual contents of FILE is not inspected, it is
              needed only due to syntactical requirements.  It is therefore  common  practice  to
              use /dev/null in its place.

       --hole-detection=METHOD
              Use  METHOD  to detect holes in sparse files.  This option implies --sparse.  Valid
              values for METHOD are seek and raw.  Default is seek with fallback to raw when  not
              applicable.

       -G, --incremental
              Handle old GNU-format incremental backups.

       --ignore-failed-read
              Do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files.

       --level=NUMBER
              Set dump level for created listed-incremental archive.  Currently only --level=0 is
              meaningful: it instructs tar to truncate the snapshot file before dumping,  thereby
              forcing a level 0 dump.

       -n, --seek
              Assume  the archive is seekable.  Normally tar determines automatically whether the
              archive can be seeked or not.  This option is intended for use in cases  when  such
              recognition  fails.   It takes effect only if the archive is open for reading (e.g.
              with --list or --extract options).

       --no-check-device
              Do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives.

       --no-seek
              Assume the archive is not seekable.

       --occurrence[=N]
              Process only the Nth occurrence of each file in the archive.  This option is  valid
              only  when  used with one of the following subcommands: --delete, --diff, --extract
              or --list and when a list of files is given either on the command line or  via  the
              -T option.  The default N is 1.

       --restrict
              Disable the use of some potentially harmful options.

       --sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR]
              Set  version  of  the sparse format to use (implies --sparse).  This option implies
              --sparse.  Valid argument values are 0.0, 0.1, and 1.0.  For a detailed  discussion
              of  sparse  formats,  refer  to  the  GNU Tar Manual, appendix D, "Sparse Formats".
              Using info reader, it can be accessed  running  the  following  command:  info  tar
              'Sparse Formats'.

       -S, --sparse
              Handle  sparse  files efficiently.  Some files in the file system may have segments
              which were actually never written (quite often these are database files created  by
              such  systems  as  DBM).   When given this option, tar attempts to determine if the
              file is sparse prior to archiving it, and if so, to reduce  the  resulting  archive
              size by not dumping empty parts of the file.

   Overwrite control
       These options control tar actions when extracting a file over an existing copy on disk.

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

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

       --no-overwrite-dir
              Preserve metadata of existing directories.

       --one-top-level[=DIR]
              Extract all files into DIR, or, if used without argument, into a subdirectory named
              by the base name of the archive (minus standard compression  suffixes  recognizable
              by --auto-compress).

       --overwrite
              Overwrite existing files when extracting.

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

       --recursive-unlink
              Recursively remove all files in the directory prior to extracting it.

       --remove-files
              Remove files from disk after adding them to the archive.

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

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

       -W, --verify
              Verify the archive after writing it.

   Output stream selection
       --ignore-command-error

       Ignore subprocess exit codes.

       --no-ignore-command-error
              Treat non-zero exit codes of children as error (default).

       -O, --to-stdout
              Extract files to standard output.

       --to-command=COMMAND
              Pipe  extracted  files  to  COMMAND.   The  argument is the pathname of an external
              program, optionally with command line arguments.  The program will be  invoked  and
              the  contents  of  the  file being extracted supplied to it on its standard output.
              Additional data will be supplied via the following environment variables:

              TAR_FILETYPE
                     Type of the file. It is a single letter with the following meaning:

                             f           Regular file
                             d           Directory
                             l           Symbolic link
                             h           Hard link
                             b           Block device
                             c           Character device

                     Currently only regular files are supported.

              TAR_MODE
                     File mode, an octal number.

              TAR_FILENAME
                     The name of the file.

              TAR_REALNAME
                     Name of the file as stored in the archive.

              TAR_UNAME
                     Name of the file owner.

              TAR_GNAME
                     Name of the file owner group.

              TAR_ATIME
                     Time of last access. It is a decimal number, representing seconds since  the
                     Epoch.   If  the  archive  provides  times  with  nanosecond  precision, the
                     nanoseconds are appended to the timestamp after a decimal point.

              TAR_MTIME
                     Time of last modification.

              TAR_CTIME
                     Time of last status change.

              TAR_SIZE
                     Size of the file.

              TAR_UID
                     UID of the file owner.

              TAR_GID
                     GID of the file owner.

              Additionally, the following variables contain information about tar operation  mode
              and the archive being processed:

              TAR_VERSION
                     GNU tar version number.

              TAR_ARCHIVE
                     The name of the archive tar is processing.

              TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR
                     Current blocking factor, i.e. number of 512-byte blocks in a record.

              TAR_VOLUME
                     Ordinal  number  of  the  volume  tar is processing (set if reading a multi-
                     volume archive).

              TAR_FORMAT
                     Format of the archive being processed.  One of: gnu, oldgnu,  posix,  ustar,
                     v7.   TAR_SUBCOMMAND  A  short  option  (with a leading dash) describing the
                     operation tar is executing.

   Handling of file attributes
       --atime-preserve[=METHOD]
              Preserve access times on dumped files, either by restoring the times after  reading
              (METHOD=replace,  this  is  the  default)  or by not setting the times in the first
              place (METHOD=system)

       --delay-directory-restore
              Delay setting modification times and permissions of extracted directories until the
              end  of  extraction.   Use  this  option  when extracting from an archive which has
              unusual member ordering.

       --group=NAME[:GID]
              Force NAME as group for added files.  If GID is not supplied, NAME can be either  a
              user  name  or  numeric  GID.   In this case the missing part (GID or name) will be
              inferred from the current host's group database.

              When used with --group-map=FILE, affects only those files whose owner group is  not
              listed in FILE.

       --group-map=FILE
              Read  group  translation  map  from  FILE.   Empty lines are ignored.  Comments are
              introduced with # sign and extend to the end of line.  Each non-empty line in  FILE
              defines  translation  for a single group.  It must consist of two fields, delimited
              by any amount of whitespace:

              OLDGRP NEWGRP[:NEWGID]

              OLDGRP is either a valid group name or a GID prefixed with  +.   Unless  NEWGID  is
              supplied, NEWGRP must also be either a valid group name or a +GID.  Otherwise, both
              NEWGRP and NEWGID need not be listed in the system group database.

              As a result, each input file with owner group OLDGRP will be stored in archive with
              owner group NEWGRP and GID NEWGID.

       --mode=CHANGES
              Force symbolic mode CHANGES for added files.

       --mtime=DATE-OR-FILE
              Set  mtime for added files.  DATE-OR-FILE is either a date/time in almost arbitrary
              format, or the name of an existing file.  In the latter case the mtime of that file
              will be used.

       -m, --touch
              Don't extract file modified time.

       --no-delay-directory-restore
              Cancel the effect of the prior --delay-directory-restore option.

       --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).

       --numeric-owner
              Always use numbers for user/group names.

       --owner=NAME[:UID]
              Force NAME as owner for added files.  If UID is not supplied, NAME can be either  a
              user  name  or  numeric  UID.   In this case the missing part (UID or name) will be
              inferred from the current host's user database.

              When used with --owner-map=FILE, affects only those files whose owner is not listed
              in FILE.

       --owner-map=FILE
              Read  owner  translation  map  from  FILE.   Empty lines are ignored.  Comments are
              introduced with # sign and extend to the end of line.  Each non-empty line in  FILE
              defines  translation for a single UID.  It must consist of two fields, delimited by
              any amount of whitespace:

              OLDUSR NEWUSR[:NEWUID]

              OLDUSR is either a valid user name or a UID prefixed  with  +.   Unless  NEWUID  is
              supplied,  NEWUSR must also be either a valid user name or a +UID.  Otherwise, both
              NEWUSR and NEWUID need not be listed in the system user database.

              As a result, each input file owned by OLDUSR will be stored in archive  with  owner
              name NEWUSR and UID NEWUID.

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

       --preserve
              Same as both -p and -s.

       --same-owner
              Try  extracting files with the same ownership as exists in the archive (default for
              superuser).

       -s, --preserve-order, --same-order
              Sort names to extract to match archive

       --sort=ORDER
              When creating an archive, sort directory entries according to ORDER, which  is  one
              of none, name, or inode.

              The  default  is  --sort=none,  which  stores  archive members in the same order as
              returned by the operating system.

              Using --sort=name ensures the member ordering in the created archive is uniform and
              reproducible.

              Using  --sort=inode reduces the number of disk seeks made when creating the archive
              and thus can considerably speed up archivation.  This sorting  order  is  supported
              only if the underlying system provides the necessary information.

   Extended file attributes
       --acls Enable POSIX ACLs support.

       --no-acls
              Disable POSIX ACLs support.

       --selinux
              Enable SELinux context support.

       --no-selinux
              Disable SELinux context support.

       --xattrs
              Enable extended attributes support.

       --no-xattrs
              Disable extended attributes support.

       --xattrs-exclude=PATTERN
              Specify the exclude pattern for xattr keys.  PATTERN is a POSIX regular expression,
              e.g. --xattrs-exclude='^user.', to exclude attributes from the user namespace.

       --xattrs-include=PATTERN
              Specify the include pattern for xattr keys.  PATTERN is a POSIX regular expression.

   Device selection and switching
       -f, --file=ARCHIVE
              Use archive file or device ARCHIVE.  If this option is not given,  tar  will  first
              examine  the  environment variable `TAPE'.  If it is set, its value will be used as
              the archive name.  Otherwise, tar will assume the compiled-in default.  The default
              value  can  be  inspected either using the --show-defaults option, or at the end of
              the tar --help output.

              An archive name that has a colon in it specifies a  file  or  device  on  a  remote
              machine.  The part before the colon is taken as the machine name or IP address, and
              the part after it as the file or device pathname, e.g.:

              --file=remotehost:/dev/sr0

              An optional username can be prefixed to the hostname,  placing  a  @  sign  between
              them.

              By  default,  the  remote  host is accessed via the rsh(1) command.  Nowadays it is
              common to use ssh(1) instead.  You can do so by giving the following  command  line
              option:

              --rsh-command=/usr/bin/ssh

              The  remote machine should have the rmt(8) command installed.  If its pathname does
              not match tar's default, you can inform tar about the correct  pathname  using  the
              --rmt-command option.

       --force-local
              Archive file is local even if it has a colon.

       -F, --info-script=COMMAND, --new-volume-script=COMMAND
              Run  COMMAND  at  the  end  of  each  tape  (implies  -M).  The command can include
              arguments.  When started, it will inherit  tar's  environment  plus  the  following
              variables:

              TAR_VERSION
                     GNU tar version number.

              TAR_ARCHIVE
                     The name of the archive tar is processing.

              TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR
                     Current blocking factor, i.e. number of 512-byte blocks in a record.

              TAR_VOLUME
                     Ordinal  number  of  the  volume  tar is processing (set if reading a multi-
                     volume archive).

              TAR_FORMAT
                     Format of the archive being processed.  One of: gnu, oldgnu,  posix,  ustar,
                     v7.

              TAR_SUBCOMMAND
                     A  short  option  (with  a  leading  dash)  describing  the operation tar is
                     executing.

              TAR_FD File descriptor which can be used to communicate the new volume name to tar.

              If the info script fails, tar exits; otherwise, it begins writing the next volume.

       -L, --tape-length=N
              Change tape after writing Nx1024 bytes.  If N is followed by a size suffix (see the
              subsection  Size suffixes below), the suffix specifies the multiplicative factor to
              be used instead of 1024.

              This option implies -M.

       -M, --multi-volume
              Create/list/extract multi-volume archive.

       --rmt-command=COMMAND
              Use COMMAND instead of rmt when accessing remote archives.  See the description  of
              the -f option, above.

       --rsh-command=COMMAND
              Use  COMMAND instead of rsh when accessing remote archives.  See the description of
              the -f option, above.

       --volno-file=FILE
              When this option is used in conjunction with --multi-volume, tar will keep track of
              which volume of a multi-volume archive it is working in FILE.

   Device blocking
       -b, --blocking-factor=BLOCKS
              Set record size to BLOCKSx512 bytes.

       -B, --read-full-records
              When  listing  or  extracting,  accept  incomplete  input records after end-of-file
              marker.

       -i, --ignore-zeros
              Ignore zeroed blocks in archive.  Normally two consecutive 512-blocks  filled  with
              zeroes  mean  EOF  and  tar  stops  reading  after  encountering them.  This option
              instructs it to read further and is useful when reading archives created  with  the
              -A option.

       --record-size=NUMBER
              Set record size.  NUMBER is the number of bytes per record.  It must be multiple of
              512.  It can can be suffixed with a size suffix,  e.g.  --record-size=10K,  for  10
              Kilobytes.  See the subsection Size suffixes, for a list of valid suffixes.

   Archive format selection
       -H, --format=FORMAT
              Create archive of the given format.  Valid formats are:

              gnu    GNU tar 1.13.x format

              oldgnu GNU format as per tar <= 1.12.

              pax, posix
                     POSIX 1003.1-2001 (pax) format.

              ustar  POSIX 1003.1-1988 (ustar) format.

              v7     Old V7 tar format.

       --old-archive, --portability
              Same as --format=v7.

       --pax-option=keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value]]...
              Control  pax  keywords  when  creating  PAX  archives  (-H  pax).   This  option is
              equivalent to the -o option of the pax(1)utility.

       --posix
              Same as --format=posix.

       -V, --label=TEXT
              Create archive with volume name TEXT.  If listing or  extracting,  use  TEXT  as  a
              globbing pattern for volume name.

   Compression options
       -a, --auto-compress
              Use archive suffix to determine the compression program.

       -I, --use-compress-program=COMMAND
              Filter data through COMMAND.  It must accept the -d option, for decompression.  The
              argument can contain command line options.

       -j, --bzip2
              Filter the archive through bzip2(1).

       -J, --xz
              Filter the archive through xz(1).

       --lzip Filter the archive through lzip(1).

       --lzma Filter the archive through lzma(1).

       --lzop Filter the archive through lzop(1).

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

       -z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip
              Filter the archive through gzip(1).

       -Z, --compress, --uncompress
              Filter the archive through compress(1).

   Local file selection
       --add-file=FILE
              Add FILE to the archive (useful if its name starts with a dash).

       --backup[=CONTROL]
              Backup before removal.  The CONTROL argument,  if  supplied,  controls  the  backup
              policy.  Its valid values are:

              none, off
                     Never make backups.

              t, numbered
                     Make numbered backups.

              nil, existing
                     Make numbered backups if numbered backups exist, simple backups otherwise.

              never, simple
                     Always make simple backups

              If  CONTROL  is  not given, the value is taken from the VERSION_CONTROL environment
              variable.  If it is not set, existing is assumed.

       -C, --directory=DIR
              Change to DIR before performing any operations.  This  option  is  order-sensitive,
              i.e. it affects all options that follow.

       --exclude=PATTERN
              Exclude files matching PATTERN, a glob(3)-style wildcard pattern.

       --exclude-backups
              Exclude backup and lock files.

       --exclude-caches
              Exclude  contents  of  directories containing file CACHEDIR.TAG, except for the tag
              file itself.

       --exclude-caches-all
              Exclude directories containing file CACHEDIR.TAG and the file itself.

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

       --exclude-ignore=FILE
              Before dumping a directory, see  if  it  contains  FILE.   If  so,  read  exclusion
              patterns from this file.  The patterns affect only the directory itself.

       --exclude-ignore-recursive=FILE
              Same  as --exclude-ignore, except that patterns from FILE affect both the directory
              and all its subdirectories.

       --exclude-tag=FILE
              Exclude contents of directories containing FILE, except for FILE itself.

       --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.

       --exclude-vcs-ignores
              Exclude files that match patterns read from VCS-specific ignore  files.   Supported
              files are: .cvsignore, .gitignore, .bzrignore, and .hgignore.

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

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

       -K, --starting-file=MEMBER
              Begin at the given member in the archive.

       --newer-mtime=DATE
              Work  on files whose data changed after the DATE.  If DATE starts with / or . it is
              taken to be a file name; the mtime of that file is used as the date.

       --no-null
              Disable the effect of the previous --null option.

       --no-recursion
              Avoid descending automatically in directories.

       --no-unquote
              Do not unquote input file or member names.

       --no-verbatim-files-from
              Treat each line read from a file list as if it were supplied in the  command  line.
              I.e.,  leading  and  trailing  whitespace  is  removed and, if the resulting string
              begins with a dash, it is treated as tar command line option.

              This is the default behavior.  The --no-verbatim-files-from option is provided as a
              way to restore it after --verbatim-files-from option.

              This  option is positional: it affects all --files-from options that occur after it
              in, until --verbatim-files-from option or end of line, whichever occurs first.

              It is implied by the --no-null option.

       --null Instruct subsequent -T options to read  null-terminated  names  verbatim  (disables
              special handling of names that start with a dash).

              See also --verbatim-files-from.

       -N, --newer=DATE, --after-date=DATE
              Only  store  files newer than DATE.  If DATE starts with / or . it is taken to be a
              file name; the ctime of that file is used as the date.

       --one-file-system
              Stay in local file system when creating archive.

       -P, --absolute-names
              Don't strip leading slashes from file names when creating archives.

       --recursion
              Recurse into directories (default).

       --suffix=STRING
              Backup before  removal,  override  usual  suffix.   Default  suffix  is  ~,  unless
              overridden by environment variable SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.

       -T, --files-from=FILE
              Get names to extract or create from FILE.

              Unless  specified  otherwise,  the  FILE  must contain a list of names separated by
              ASCII LF (i.e. one name per line).  The names read are  handled  the  same  way  as
              command  line  arguments.   They  undergo quote removal and word splitting, and any
              string that starts with a - is handled as tar command line option.

              If  this  behavior   is   undesirable,   it   can   be   turned   off   using   the
              --verbatim-files-from option.

              The  --null  option instructs tar that the names in FILE are separated by ASCII NUL
              character, instead of LF.  It is useful if the list is generated by find(1) -print0
              predicate.

       --unquote
              Unquote file or member names (default).

       --verbatim-files-from
              Treat  each line obtained from a file list as a file name, even if it starts with a
              dash.  File lists are supplied with the  --files-from  (-T)  option.   The  default
              behavior  is  to  handle  names supplied in file lists as if they were typed in the
              command line, i.e. any names starting with a dash are treated as tar options.   The
              --verbatim-files-from option disables this behavior.

              This  option  affects  all  --files-from options that occur after it in the command
              line.  Its effect is reverted by the --no-verbatim-files-from} option.

              This option is implied by the --null option.

              See also --add-file.

       -X, --exclude-from=FILE
              Exclude files matching patterns listed in FILE.

   File name transformations
       --strip-components=NUMBER
              Strip NUMBER leading components from file names on extraction.

       --transform=EXPRESSION, --xform=EXPRESSION
              Use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file names.

   File name matching options
       These options affect both exclude and include patterns.

       --anchored
              Patterns match file name start.

       --ignore-case
              Ignore case.

       --no-anchored
              Patterns match after any / (default for exclusion).

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

       --no-wildcards
              Verbatim string matching.

       --no-wildcards-match-slash
              Wildcards do not match /.

       --wildcards
              Use wildcards (default for exclusion).

       --wildcards-match-slash
              Wildcards match / (default for exclusion).

   Informative output
       --checkpoint[=N]
              Display progress messages every Nth record (default 10).

       --checkpoint-action=ACTION
              Run ACTION on each checkpoint.

       --clamp-mtime
              Only set time when the file is more recent than what was given with --mtime.

       --full-time
              Print file time to its full resolution.

       --index-file=FILE
              Send verbose output to FILE.

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

       --no-quote-chars=STRING
              Disable quoting for characters from STRING.

       --quote-chars=STRING
              Additionally quote characters from STRING.

       --quoting-style=STYLE
              Set quoting style for file and member names.  Valid values for STYLE  are  literal,
              shell, shell-always, c, c-maybe, escape, locale, clocale.

       -R, --block-number
              Show block number within archive with each message.

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

       --show-transformed-names, --show-stored-names
              Show file or archive names after transformation by --strip and --transform options.

       --totals[=SIGNAL]
              Print total bytes after processing the archive.  If SIGNAL is  given,  print  total
              bytes when this signal is delivered.  Allowed signals are: SIGHUP, SIGQUIT, SIGINT,
              SIGUSR1, and SIGUSR2.  The SIG prefix can be omitted.

       --utc  Print file modification times in UTC.

       -v, --verbose
              Verbosely list files processed.

       --warning=KEYWORD
              Enable or disable  warning  messages  identified  by  KEYWORD.   The  messages  are
              suppressed if KEYWORD is prefixed with no- and enabled otherwise.

              Multiple --warning messages accumulate.

              Keywords controlling general tar operation:

              all    Enable all warning messages.  This is the default.

              none   Disable all warning messages.

              filename-with-nuls
                     "%s: file name read contains nul character"

              alone-zero-block
                     "A lone zero block at %s"

              Keywords applicable for tar --create:

              cachedir
                     "%s: contains a cache directory tag %s; %s"

              file-shrank
                     "%s: File shrank by %s bytes; padding with zeros"

              xdev   "%s: file is on a different filesystem; not dumped"

              file-ignored
                     "%s: Unknown file type; file ignored"
                     "%s: socket ignored"
                     "%s: door ignored"

              file-unchanged
                     "%s: file is unchanged; not dumped"

              ignore-archive
                     "%s: file is the archive; not dumped"

              file-removed
                     "%s: File removed before we read it"

              file-changed
                     "%s: file changed as we read it"

              Keywords applicable for tar --extract:

              existing-file
                     "%s: skipping existing file"

              timestamp
                     "%s: implausibly old time stamp %s"
                     "%s: time stamp %s is %s s in the future"

              contiguous-cast
                     "Extracting contiguous files as regular files"

              symlink-cast
                     "Attempting extraction of symbolic links as hard links"

              unknown-cast
                     "%s: Unknown file type '%c', extracted as normal file"

              ignore-newer
                     "Current %s is newer or same age"

              unknown-keyword
                     "Ignoring unknown extended header keyword '%s'"

              decompress-program
                     Controls  verbose  description  of  failures  occurring  when  trying to run
                     alternative decompressor programs.  This  warning  is  disabled  by  default
                     (unless --verbose is used).  A common example of what you can get when using
                     this warning is:

                     $ tar --warning=decompress-program -x -f archive.Z
                     tar (child): cannot run compress: No such file or directory
                     tar (child): trying gzip

                     This means that tar first tried to decompress archive.Z using compress, and,
                     when that failed, switched to gzip.

              record-size
                     "Record size = %lu blocks"

              Keywords controlling incremental extraction:

              rename-directory
                     "%s: Directory has been renamed from %s"
                     "%s: Directory has been renamed"

              new-directory
                     "%s: Directory is new"

              xdev   "%s: directory is on a different device: not purging"

              bad-dumpdir
                     "Malformed dumpdir: 'X' never used"

       -w, --interactive, --confirmation
              Ask for confirmation for every action.

   Compatibility options
       -o     When creating, same as --old-archive.  When extracting, same as --no-same-owner.

   Size suffixes
               Suffix    Units                   Byte Equivalent
               b         Blocks                  SIZE x 512
               B         Kilobytes               SIZE x 1024
               c         Bytes                   SIZE
               G         Gigabytes               SIZE x 1024^3
               K         Kilobytes               SIZE x 1024
               k         Kilobytes               SIZE x 1024
               M         Megabytes               SIZE x 1024^2
               P         Petabytes               SIZE x 1024^5
               T         Terabytes               SIZE x 1024^4
               w         Words                   SIZE x 2

RETURN VALUE

       Tar  exit  code  indicates  whether  it  was  able  to  successfully perform the requested
       operation, and if not, what kind of error occurred.

       0      Successful termination.

       1      Some files differ.  If tar was invoked with the --compare (--diff, -d) command line
              option,  this  means  that  some  files  in  the  archive  differ  from  their disk
              counterparts.  If tar was given one of the --create, --append or --update  options,
              this  exit  code means that some files were changed while being archived and so the
              resulting archive does not contain the exact copy of the file set.

       2      Fatal error.  This means that some fatal, unrecoverable error occurred.

       If a subprocess that had been invoked by tar exited with a nonzero exit code,  tar  itself
       exits with that code as well.  This can happen, for example, if a compression option (e.g.
       -z) was used and the external compressor program failed.  Another example is  rmt  failure
       during backup to a remote device.

SEE ALSO

       bzip2(1), compress(1), gzip(1), lzma(1), lzop(1), rmt(8), symlink(7), tar(5), xz(1).

       Complete tar manual: run info tar or use emacs(1) info mode to read it.

       Online copies of GNU tar documentation in various formats can be found at:

           http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual

BUG REPORTS

       Report bugs to <bug-tar@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
       This  is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY,
       to the extent permitted by law.