man(1) Manual page archive


     TAR(1)                                                     TAR(1)

     NAME
          tar - tape archiver

     SYNOPSIS
          tar [ key ] [ name ... ]

     DESCRIPTION
          Tar saves and restores files on magtape.  Its actions are
          controlled by the key argument.  The key is a string of
          characters containing at most one function letter and possi-
          bly one or more function modifiers.  Other arguments to the
          command are file or directory names specifying which files
          are to be dumped or restored.  In all cases, appearance of a
          directory name refers to the files and (recursively) subdi-
          rectories of that directory.

          The function portion of the key is specified by one of the
          following letters:

          r       The named files are written on the end of the tape.
                  The c function implies this.  Currently, this option
                  does not work without the c option.

          x       The named files are extracted from the tape.  If the
                  named file matches a directory whose contents had
                  been written onto the tape, this directory is
                  (recursively) extracted.  The owner and mode are
                  restored (if possible).  If no file argument is
                  given, the entire content of the tape is extracted.
                  Note that if multiple entries specifying the same
                  file are on the tape, the last one overwrites all
                  earlier.

          t       The names of the specified files are listed each
                  time they occur on the tape.  If no file argument is
                  given, all of the names on the tape are listed.

          u       The named files are added to the tape if either they
                  are not already there or have been modified since
                  last put on the tape.

          c       Create a new tape; writing begins on the beginning
                  of the tape instead of after the last file.  This
                  command implies r.

          o       On output, tar normally places information specify-
                  ing owner and modes of directories in the archive.
                  Former versions of tar, when encountering this
                  information will give error message of the form
                       "<name>/: cannot create".

     TAR(1)                                                     TAR(1)

                  This option will suppress the directory information.

          p       This option says to restore files to their original
                  modes, ignoring the present umask(2). Setuid and
                  sticky information will also be restored to the
                  super-user.

          The following characters may be used in addition to the let-
          ter which selects the function desired.

          0,...,7   This modifier selects the drive on which the tape
                    is mounted.  The default is 1.

          v         Normally tar does its work silently.  The v (ver-
                    bose) option causes it to type the name of each
                    file it treats preceded by the function letter.
                    With the t function, v gives more information
                    about the tape entries than just the name.

          w         causes tar to print the action to be taken fol-
                    lowed by file name, then wait for user confirma-
                    tion. If a word beginning with `y' is given, the
                    action is performed. Any other input means don't
                    do it.

          f         causes tar to use the next argument as the name of
                    the archive instead of /dev/mt?. If the name of
                    the file is `-', tar writes to standard output or
                    reads from standard input, whichever is appropri-
                    ate. Thus, tar can be used as the head or tail of
                    a filter chain Tar can also be used to move hier-
                    archies with the command
                      cd fromdir; tar cf - . | (cd todir; tar xf -)

          b         causes tar to use the next argument as the block-
                    ing factor for tape records. The default is 1, the
                    maximum is 20. This option should only be used
                    with raw magnetic tape archives (See f above).

          l         tells tar to complain if it cannot resolve all of
                    the links to the files dumped. If this is not
                    specified, no error meesages are printed.

     FILES
          /dev/rmt?
          /tmp/tar*

     DIAGNOSTICS
          Complaints about bad key characters and tape read/write
          errors.
          Complaints if enough memory is not available to hold the
          link tables.

     TAR(1)                                                     TAR(1)

     BUGS
          There is no way to ask for the n-th occurrence of a file.
          Tape errors are handled ungracefully.
          The u option can be slow.
          The b option should not be used with archives that are going
          to be updated. The current magtape driver cannot backspace
          raw magtape.  If the archive is on a disk file the b option
          should not be used at all, as updating an archive stored in
          this manner can destroy it.
          The current limit on file name length is 100 characters.
          The u option will only work with archives on disk files,
          because tar now must use the raw tape mechanism.