tar Command Builder

tar

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Editor

Configuration

Create, extract, and manage tape archives

Safety Advisory

`--delete` modifies the archive in place and cannot be undone. `--overwrite` silently replaces files during extraction.

Required

Files / directories*

Flags & Options

Add flags from the picker below...

Tests

-c

Create archive

Create a new archive (-c)

-x

Extract archive

Extract files from an archive (-x)

-t

List contents

List the contents of an archive (-t)

-r

Append files

Append files to the end of an archive (-r)

-u

Update archive

Append files newer than the copy in the archive (-u)

-A

Concatenate archives

Append tar files to an archive (-A / --catenate)

-z

gzip compression

Filter the archive through gzip (-z / --gzip)

-j

bzip2 compression

Filter the archive through bzip2 (-j / --bzip2)

-J

xz compression

Filter the archive through xz (-J / --xz)

--zstd

zstd compression

Filter the archive through zstd

-a

Auto-compress

Use archive suffix to determine the compression program (-a / --auto-compress)

--level

Compression level

Compression level (1 = fastest, 9 = best)

-f

Archive file

Use specified archive file or device. Use - for stdin/stdout (-f / --file)

-C

Change to directory

Change to the specified directory before performing operations (-C / --directory)

--exclude

Exclude pattern

Exclude files matching the given pattern

-X

Exclude from file

Exclude patterns listed in the specified file (-X / --exclude-from)

--include

Include pattern

Include only files matching the given pattern

-T

Files from list

Read names to extract or create from the specified file (-T / --files-from)

--newer

Newer than date

Only store files newer than the specified date (--newer / -N)

--strip-components

Strip path components

Strip the specified number of leading path components from file names on extraction

--overwrite

Overwrite existing

Overwrite existing files when extracting

-k

Keep old files

Do not overwrite existing files when extracting (-k / --keep-old-files)

--keep-newer-files

Keep newer files

Do not replace existing files that are newer than their archive copies

--no-same-owner

No same owner

Extract files as the current user (do not preserve ownership)

-p

Preserve permissions

Preserve file permissions (-p / --preserve-permissions)

--numeric-owner

Numeric owner

Use numeric user/group IDs instead of names

-v

Verbose

Verbosely list files processed (-v / --verbose)

--totals

Show totals

Print total bytes written after creating the archive

--progress

Show progress

Show extraction progress (GNU tar)

-W

Verify archive

Attempt to verify the archive after writing (-W / --verify)

-M

Multi-volume

Create/list/extract multi-volume archive (-M / --multi-volume)

-L

Tape length (KiB)

Change tape after writing the specified number of KiB (-L / --tape-length)

--one-file-system

One file system

Stay in the local file system when creating an archive; do not cross mount points

--ignore-failed-read

Ignore failed reads

Do not exit with non-zero status on unreadable files

--dereference

Dereference symlinks

Follow symlinks; archive the files they point to rather than the links (-h / --dereference)

--hard-dereference

Dereference hard links

Follow hard links and store the referenced file independently

-b

Block size (512B records)

Set record size to the specified number of 512-byte records (-b / --blocking-factor)

--checkpoint

Checkpoint interval

Display a progress message every Nth record

Actions

--delete

Delete from archive

Delete named members from the archive (not on tape drives)

Live Output

Command

man page

➜tar

PRO TIP:Combine -c -z -f in one flag group: tar -czf archive.tar.gz ./dir