TAR(1) manual page 

== NAME == 

'''tar''' 

- manipulate tape archives 

== SYNOPSIS == 

'''tar''' 

<nowiki>[</nowiki>''bundled-flags'' <args><nowiki>]</nowiki> 

<nowiki>[</nowiki><''file''> | <''pattern''> ...<nowiki>]</nowiki> 

'''tar''' 

<nowiki>{</nowiki>-c<nowiki>}</nowiki> 

<nowiki>[</nowiki>''options''<nowiki>]</nowiki> 

<nowiki>[</nowiki>''files'' | ''directories''<nowiki>]</nowiki> 

'''tar''' 

<nowiki>{</nowiki>-r | -u<nowiki>}</nowiki> 

-f ''archive-file'' 

<nowiki>[</nowiki>''options''<nowiki>]</nowiki> 

<nowiki>[</nowiki>''files'' | ''directories''<nowiki>]</nowiki> 

'''tar''' 

<nowiki>{</nowiki>-t | -x<nowiki>}</nowiki> 

<nowiki>[</nowiki>''options''<nowiki>]</nowiki> 

<nowiki>[</nowiki>''patterns''<nowiki>]</nowiki> 

== DESCRIPTION == 

'''tar''' 

creates and manipulates streaming archive files. 

This implementation can extract from tar, pax, cpio, zip, jar, ar, xar, 

rpm, 7-zip, and ISO 9660 cdrom images and can create tar, pax, cpio, ar, zip, 

7-zip, and shar archives. 

The first synopsis form shows a 

"bundled" 

option word. 

This usage is provided for compatibility with historical implementations. 

See COMPATIBILITY below for details. 

The other synopsis forms show the preferred usage. 

The first option to 

'''tar''' 

is a mode indicator from the following list: 

-c
 

Create a new archive containing the specified items. 

The long option form is 

--create. 

-r
 

Like 

-c, 

but new entries are appended to the archive. 

Note that this only works on uncompressed archives stored in regular files. 

The 

-f 

option is required. 

The long option form is 

--append. 

-t
 

List archive contents to stdout. 

The long option form is 

--list. 

-u
 

Like 

-r, 

but new entries are added only if they have a modification date 

newer than the corresponding entry in the archive. 

Note that this only works on uncompressed archives stored in regular files. 

The 

-f 

option is required. 

The long form is 

--update. 

-x
 

Extract to disk from the archive. 

If a file with the same name appears more than once in the archive, 

each copy will be extracted, with later copies overwriting (replacing) 

earlier copies. 

The long option form is 

--extract. 

In 

-c, 

-r, 

or 

-u 

mode, each specified file or directory is added to the 

archive in the order specified on the command line. 

By default, the contents of each directory are also archived. 

In extract or list mode, the entire command line 

is read and parsed before the archive is opened. 

The pathnames or patterns on the command line indicate 

which items in the archive should be processed. 

Patterns are shell-style globbing patterns as 

documented in 

[[tcsh(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=tcsh&sektion=1]]. 

== OPTIONS == 

Unless specifically stated otherwise, options are applicable in 

all operating modes. 

'''@'''''archive''
 

(c and r modes only) 

The specified archive is opened and the entries 

in it will be appended to the current archive. 

As a simple example, 

```text

tar -c -f - newfile @original.tar 

```

writes a new archive to standard output containing a file 

''newfile'' 

and all of the entries from 

''original.tar''. 

In contrast, 

```text

tar -c -f - newfile original.tar 

```

creates a new archive with only two entries. 

Similarly, 

```text

tar -czf - --format pax @- 

```

reads an archive from standard input (whose format will be determined 

automatically) and converts it into a gzip-compressed 

pax-format archive on stdout. 

In this way, 

'''tar''' 

can be used to convert archives from one format to another. 

-a, --auto-compress
 

(c mode only) 

Use the archive suffix to decide a set of the format and 

the compressions. 

As a simple example, 

```text

tar -a -cf archive.tgz source.c source.h 

```

creates a new archive with restricted pax format and gzip compression, 

```text

tar -a -cf archive.tar.bz2.uu source.c source.h 

```

creates a new archive with restricted pax format and bzip2 compression 

and uuencode compression, 

```text

tar -a -cf archive.zip source.c source.h 

```

creates a new archive with zip format, 

```text

tar -a -jcf archive.tgz source.c source.h 

```

ignores the 

"-j" 

option, and creates a new archive with restricted pax format 

and gzip compression, 

```text

tar -a -jcf archive.xxx source.c source.h 

```

if it is unknown suffix or no suffix, creates a new archive with 

restricted pax format and bzip2 compression. 

--acls
 

(c, r, u, x modes only) 

Archive or extract POSIX.1e or NFSv4 ACLs. This is the reverse of 

--no-acls 

and the default behavior in c, r, and u modes (except on Mac OS X) or if 

'''tar''' 

is run in x mode as root. On Mac OS X this option translates extended ACLs 

to NFSv4 ACLs. To store extended ACLs the 

--mac-metadata 

option is preferred. 

-B, --read-full-blocks
 

Ignored for compatibility with other 

[[ManPageBsdtar1]] 

implementations. 

-b ''blocksize'', --block-size ''blocksize''
 

Specify the block size, in 512-byte records, for tape drive I/O. 

As a rule, this argument is only needed when reading from or writing 

to tape drives, and usually not even then as the default block size of 

20 records (10240 bytes) is very common. 

-C ''directory'', --cd ''directory'', --directory ''directory''
 

In c and r mode, this changes the directory before adding 

the following files. 

In x mode, change directories after opening the archive 

but before extracting entries from the archive. 

--chroot
 

(x mode only) 

'''chroot'''() 

to the current directory after processing any 

-C 

options and before extracting any files. 

--clear-nochange-fflags
 

(x mode only) 

Before removing file system objects to replace them, clear platform-specific 

file flags that might prevent removal. 

--exclude ''pattern''
 

Do not process files or directories that match the 

specified pattern. 

Note that exclusions take precedence over patterns or filenames 

specified on the command line. 

--fflags
 

(c, r, u, x modes only) 

Archive or extract file flags. This is the reverse of 

--no-fflags 

and the default behavior in c, r, and u modes or if 

'''tar''' 

is run in x mode as root. 

--format ''format''
 

(c, r, u mode only) 

Use the specified format for the created archive. 

Supported formats include 

"cpio", 

"pax", 

"shar", 

and 

"ustar". 

Other formats may also be supported; see 

[[ManPageibarchiveormats5]] 

for more information about currently-supported formats. 

In r and u modes, when extending an existing archive, the format specified 

here must be compatible with the format of the existing archive on disk. 

-f ''file'', --file ''file''
 

Read the archive from or write the archive to the specified file. 

The filename can be 

''-'' 

for standard input or standard output. 

The default varies by system; 

on 

FreeBSD, 

the default is 

''/dev/sa0''; 

on Linux, the default is 

''/dev/st0''. 

--gid ''id''
 

Use the provided group id number. 

On extract, this overrides the group id in the archive; 

the group name in the archive will be ignored. 

On create, this overrides the group id read from disk; 

if 

--gname 

is not also specified, the group name will be set to 

match the group id. 

--gname ''name''
 

Use the provided group name. 

On extract, this overrides the group name in the archive; 

if the provided group name does not exist on the system, 

the group id 

(from the archive or from the 

--gid 

option) 

will be used instead. 

On create, this sets the group name that will be stored 

in the archive; 

the name will not be verified against the system group database. 

-H
 

(c and r modes only) 

Symbolic links named on the command line will be followed; the 

target of the link will be archived, not the link itself. 

-h
 

(c and r modes only) 

Synonym for 

-L. 

-I
 

Synonym for 

-T. 

--help
 

Show usage. 

--hfsCompression
 

(x mode only) 

Mac OS X specific (v10.6 or later). Compress extracted regular files with HFS+ 

compression. 

--ignore-zeros
 

An alias of 

--options '''read_concatenated_archives''' 

for compatibility with GNU tar. 

--include ''pattern''
 

Process only files or directories that match the specified pattern. 

Note that exclusions specified with 

--exclude 

take precedence over inclusions. 

If no inclusions are explicitly specified, all entries are processed by 

default. 

The 

--include 

option is especially useful when filtering archives. 

For example, the command 

```text

tar -c -f new.tar --include='*foo*' @old.tgz 

```

creates a new archive 

''new.tar'' 

containing only the entries from 

''old.tgz'' 

containing the string 

Sq foo. 

-J, --xz
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the resulting archive with 

[[xz(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=xz&sektion=1]]. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes XZ compression automatically when reading archives. 

-j, --bzip, --bzip2, --bunzip2
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the resulting archive with 

[[bzip2(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bzip2&sektion=1]]. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes bzip2 compression automatically when reading 

archives. 

-k, --keep-old-files
 

(x mode only) 

Do not overwrite existing files. 

In particular, if a file appears more than once in an archive, 

later copies will not overwrite earlier copies. 

--keep-newer-files
 

(x mode only) 

Do not overwrite existing files that are newer than the 

versions appearing in the archive being extracted. 

-L, --dereference
 

(c and r modes only) 

All symbolic links will be followed. 

Normally, symbolic links are archived as such. 

With this option, the target of the link will be archived instead. 

-l, --check-links
 

(c and r modes only) 

Issue a warning message unless all links to each file are archived. 

--lrzip
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the resulting archive with 

[[lrzip(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=lrzip&sektion=1]]. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes lrzip compression automatically when reading 

archives. 

--lz4
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the archive with lz4-compatible compression before writing it. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes lz4 compression automatically when reading archives. 

--zstd
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the archive with zstd-compatible compression before writing it. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes zstd compression automatically when reading archives. 

--lzma
 

(c mode only) Compress the resulting archive with the original LZMA algorithm. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Use of this option is discouraged and new archives should be created with 

--xz 

instead. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes LZMA compression automatically when reading archives. 

--lzop
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the resulting archive with 

[[lzop(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=lzop&sektion=1]]. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes LZO compression automatically when reading archives. 

-m, --modification-time
 

(x mode only) 

Do not extract modification time. 

By default, the modification time is set to the time stored in the archive. 

--mac-metadata
 

(c, r, u and x mode only) 

Mac OS X specific. Archive or extract extended ACLs and extended attributes 

using 

[[copyfile(3)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=copyfile&sektion=3]] 

in AppleDouble format. This is the reverse of 

--no-mac-metadata. 

and the default behavior in c, r, and u modes or if 

'''tar''' 

is run in x mode as root. 

-n, --norecurse, --no-recursion
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Do not recursively archive the contents of directories. 

--newer ''date''
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Only include files and directories newer than the specified date. 

This compares ctime entries. 

--newer-mtime ''date''
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Like 

--newer, 

except it compares mtime entries instead of ctime entries. 

--newer-than ''file''
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Only include files and directories newer than the specified file. 

This compares ctime entries. 

--newer-mtime-than ''file''
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Like 

--newer-than, 

except it compares mtime entries instead of ctime entries. 

--nodump
 

(c and r modes only) 

Honor the nodump file flag by skipping this file. 

--nopreserveHFSCompression
 

(x mode only) 

Mac OS X specific (v10.6 or later). Do not compress extracted regular files 

which were compressed with HFS+ compression before archived. 

By default, compress the regular files again with HFS+ compression. 

--null
 

(use with 

-I 

or 

-T) 

Filenames or patterns are separated by null characters, 

not by newlines. 

This is often used to read filenames output by the 

-print0 

option to 

[[find(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=find&sektion=1]]. 

--no-acls
 

(c, r, u, x modes only) 

Do not archive or extract POSIX.1e or NFSv4 ACLs. This is the reverse of 

--acls 

and the default behavior if 

'''tar''' 

is run as non-root in x mode (on Mac OS X as any user in c, r, u and x modes). 

--no-fflags
 

(c, r, u, x modes only) 

Do not archive or extract file flags. This is the reverse of 

--fflags 

and the default behavior if 

'''tar''' 

is run as non-root in x mode. 

--no-mac-metadata
 

(x mode only) 

Mac OS X specific. Do not archive or extract ACLs and extended attributes using 

[[copyfile(3)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=copyfile&sektion=3]] 

in AppleDouble format. This is the reverse of 

--mac-metadata. 

and the default behavior if 

'''tar''' 

is run as non-root in x mode. 

-n, --norecurse, --no-recursion
 

--no-same-owner
 

(x mode only) 

Do not extract owner and group IDs. 

This is the reverse of 

--same-owner 

and the default behavior if 

'''tar''' 

is run as non-root. 

--no-same-permissions
 

(x mode only) 

Do not extract full permissions (SGID, SUID, sticky bit, ACLs, 

extended attributes or extended file flags). 

This is the reverse of 

-p 

and the default behavior if 

'''tar''' 

is run as non-root. 

--no-xattrs
 

(c, r, u, x modes only) 

Do not archive or extract extended attributes. This is the reverse of 

--xattrs 

and the default behavior if 

'''tar''' 

is run as non-root in x mode. 

--numeric-owner
 

This is equivalent to 

--uname 

Qq 

--gname 

Qq. 

On extract, it causes user and group names in the archive 

to be ignored in favor of the numeric user and group ids. 

On create, it causes user and group names to not be stored 

in the archive. 

-O, --to-stdout
 

(x, t modes only) 

In extract (-x) mode, files will be written to standard out rather than 

being extracted to disk. 

In list (-t) mode, the file listing will be written to stderr rather than 

the usual stdout. 

-o
 

(x mode) 

Use the user and group of the user running the program rather 

than those specified in the archive. 

Note that this has no significance unless 

-p 

is specified, and the program is being run by the root user. 

In this case, the file modes and flags from 

the archive will be restored, but ACLs or owner information in 

the archive will be discarded. 

-o
 

(c, r, u mode) 

A synonym for 

--format ''ustar'' 

--older ''date''
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Only include files and directories older than the specified date. 

This compares ctime entries. 

--older-mtime ''date''
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Like 

--older, 

except it compares mtime entries instead of ctime entries. 

--older-than ''file''
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Only include files and directories older than the specified file. 

This compares ctime entries. 

--older-mtime-than ''file''
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

Like 

--older-than, 

except it compares mtime entries instead of ctime entries. 

--one-file-system
 

(c, r, and u modes) 

Do not cross mount points. 

--options ''options''
 

Select optional behaviors for particular modules. 

The argument is a text string containing comma-separated 

keywords and values. 

These are passed to the modules that handle particular 

formats to control how those formats will behave. 

Each option has one of the following forms: 

''key=value''
 

The key will be set to the specified value in every module that supports it. 

Modules that do not support this key will ignore it. 

''key''
 

The key will be enabled in every module that supports it. 

This is equivalent to 

''key'''''=1'''. 

''!key''
 

The key will be disabled in every module that supports it. 

''module:key=value'', ''module:key'', ''module:!key''
 

As above, but the corresponding key and value will be provided 

only to modules whose name matches 

''module''. 

The currently supported modules and keys are: 

'''iso9660:joliet'''
 

Support Joliet extensions. 

This is enabled by default, use 

'''!joliet''' 

or 

'''iso9660:!joliet''' 

to disable. 

'''iso9660:rockridge'''
 

Support Rock Ridge extensions. 

This is enabled by default, use 

'''!rockridge''' 

or 

'''iso9660:!rockridge''' 

to disable. 

'''gzip:compression-level'''
 

A decimal integer from 1 to 9 specifying the gzip compression level. 

'''gzip:timestamp'''
 

Store timestamp. This is enabled by default, use 

'''!timestamp''' 

or 

'''gzip:!timestamp''' 

to disable. 

'''lrzip:compression'''=''type''
 

Use 

''type'' 

as compression method. 

Supported values are bzip2, gzip, lzo (ultra fast), 

and zpaq (best, extremely slow). 

'''lrzip:compression-level'''
 

A decimal integer from 1 to 9 specifying the lrzip compression level. 

'''lz4:compression-level'''
 

A decimal integer from 1 to 9 specifying the lzop compression level. 

'''lz4:stream-checksum'''
 

Enable stream checksum. This is by default, use 

'''lz4:!stream-checksum''' 

to disable. 

'''lz4:block-checksum'''
 

Enable block checksum (Disabled by default). 

'''lz4:block-size'''
 

A decimal integer from 4 to 7 specifying the lz4 compression block size 

(7 is set by default). 

'''lz4:block-dependence'''
 

Use the previous block of the block being compressed for 

a compression dictionary to improve compression ratio. 

'''zstd:compression-level'''
 

A decimal integer from 1 to 22 specifying the zstd compression level. 

'''lzop:compression-level'''
 

A decimal integer from 1 to 9 specifying the lzop compression level. 

'''xz:compression-level'''
 

A decimal integer from 0 to 9 specifying the xz compression level. 

'''mtree:'''''keyword''
 

The mtree writer module allows you to specify which mtree keywords 

will be included in the output. 

Supported keywords include: 

'''cksum''', '''device''', '''flags''', '''gid''', '''gname''', '''indent''', 

'''link''', '''md5''', '''mode''', '''nlink''', '''rmd160''', '''sha1''', '''sha256''', 

'''sha384''', '''sha512''', '''size''', '''time''', '''uid''', '''uname'''. 

The default is equivalent to: 

"device, flags, gid, gname, link, mode, nlink, size, time, type, uid, uname". 

'''mtree:all'''
 

Enables all of the above keywords. 

You can also use 

'''mtree:!all''' 

to disable all keywords. 

'''mtree:use-set'''
 

Enable generation of 

'''/set''' 

lines in the output. 

'''mtree:indent'''
 

Produce human-readable output by indenting options and splitting lines 

to fit into 80 columns. 

'''zip:compression'''=''type''
 

Use 

''type'' 

as compression method. 

Supported values are store (uncompressed) and deflate (gzip algorithm). 

'''zip:encryption'''
 

Enable encryption using traditional zip encryption. 

'''zip:encryption'''=''type''
 

Use 

''type'' 

as encryption type. 

Supported values are zipcrypt (traditional zip encryption), 

aes128 (WinZip AES-128 encryption) and aes256 (WinZip AES-256 encryption). 

'''read_concatenated_archives'''
 

Ignore zeroed blocks in the archive, which occurs when multiple tar archives 

have been concatenated together.  Without this option, only the contents of 

the first concatenated archive would be read.  This option is comparable to 

the 

-i, --ignore-zeros 

option of GNU tar. 

If a provided option is not supported by any module, that 

is a fatal error. 

-P, --absolute-paths
 

Preserve pathnames. 

By default, absolute pathnames (those that begin with a / 

character) have the leading slash removed both when creating archives 

and extracting from them. 

Also, 

'''tar''' 

will refuse to extract archive entries whose pathnames contain 

''..'' 

or whose target directory would be altered by a symlink. 

This option suppresses these behaviors. 

-p, --insecure, --preserve-permissions
 

(x mode only) 

Preserve file permissions. 

Attempt to restore the full permissions, including owner, file modes, ACLs, 

extended attributes and extended file flags, if available, for each item 

extracted from the archive. This is te reverse of 

--no-same-permissions 

and the default if 

'''tar''' 

is being run by root and can be partially overridden by also specifying 

--no-acls, 

--no-fflags, 

--no-mac-metadata 

or 

--no-xattrs. 

--passphrase ''passphrase''
 

The 

''passphrase'' 

is used to extract or create an encrypted archive. 

Currently, zip is the only supported format that supports encryption. 

You shouldn't use this option unless you realize how insecure 

use of this option is. 

--posix
 

(c, r, u mode only) 

Synonym for 

--format ''pax'' 

-q, --fast-read
 

(x and t mode only) 

Extract or list only the first archive entry that matches each pattern 

or filename operand. 

Exit as soon as each specified pattern or filename has been matched. 

By default, the archive is always read to the very end, since 

there can be multiple entries with the same name and, by convention, 

later entries overwrite earlier entries. 

This option is provided as a performance optimization. 

-S
 

(x mode only) 

Extract files as sparse files. 

For every block on disk, check first if it contains only NULL bytes and seek 

over it otherwise. 

This works similar to the conv=sparse option of dd. 

-s ''pattern''
 

Modify file or archive member names according to 

''pattern''. 

The pattern has the format 

''/old/new/''<nowiki>[</nowiki>ghHprRsS<nowiki>]</nowiki> 

where 

''old'' 

is a basic regular expression, 

''new'' 

is the replacement string of the matched part, 

and the optional trailing letters modify 

how the replacement is handled. 

If 

''old'' 

is not matched, the pattern is skipped. 

Within 

''new'', 

~ is substituted with the match, \e1 to \e9 with the content of 

the corresponding captured group. 

The optional trailing g specifies that matching should continue 

after the matched part and stop on the first unmatched pattern. 

The optional trailing s specifies that the pattern applies to the value 

of symbolic links. 

The optional trailing p specifies that after a successful substitution 

the original path name and the new path name should be printed to 

standard error. 

Optional trailing H, R, or S characters suppress substitutions 

for hardlink targets, regular filenames, or symlink targets, 

respectively. 

Optional trailing h, r, or s characters enable substitutions 

for hardlink targets, regular filenames, or symlink targets, 

respectively. 

The default is 

''hrs'' 

which applies substitutions to all names. 

In particular, it is never necessary to specify h, r, or s. 

--same-owner
 

(x mode only) 

Extract owner and group IDs. 

This is the reverse of 

--no-same-owner 

and the default behavior if 

'''tar''' 

is run as root. 

--strip-components ''count''
 

Remove the specified number of leading path elements. 

Pathnames with fewer elements will be silently skipped. 

Note that the pathname is edited after checking inclusion/exclusion patterns 

but before security checks. 

-T ''filename'', --files-from ''filename''
 

In x or t mode, 

'''tar''' 

will read the list of names to be extracted from 

''filename''. 

In c mode, 

'''tar''' 

will read names to be archived from 

''filename''. 

The special name 

"-C" 

on a line by itself will cause the current directory to be changed to 

the directory specified on the following line. 

Names are terminated by newlines unless 

--null 

is specified. 

Note that 

--null 

also disables the special handling of lines containing 

"-C". 

Note:  If you are generating lists of files using 

[[find(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=find&sektion=1]], 

you probably want to use 

-n 

as well. 

--totals
 

(c, r, u modes only) 

After archiving all files, print a summary to stderr. 

-U, --unlink, --unlink-first
 

(x mode only) 

Unlink files before creating them. 

This can be a minor performance optimization if most files 

already exist, but can make things slower if most files 

do not already exist. 

This flag also causes 

'''tar''' 

to remove intervening directory symlinks instead of 

reporting an error. 

See the SECURITY section below for more details. 

--uid ''id''
 

Use the provided user id number and ignore the user 

name from the archive. 

On create, if 

--uname 

is not also specified, the user name will be set to 

match the user id. 

--uname ''name''
 

Use the provided user name. 

On extract, this overrides the user name in the archive; 

if the provided user name does not exist on the system, 

it will be ignored and the user id 

(from the archive or from the 

--uid 

option) 

will be used instead. 

On create, this sets the user name that will be stored 

in the archive; 

the name is not verified against the system user database. 

--use-compress-program ''program''
 

Pipe the input (in x or t mode) or the output (in c mode) through 

''program'' 

instead of using the builtin compression support. 

-v, --verbose
 

Produce verbose output. 

In create and extract modes, 

'''tar''' 

will list each file name as it is read from or written to 

the archive. 

In list mode, 

'''tar''' 

will produce output similar to that of 

[[ls(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ls&sektion=1]]. 

An additional 

-v 

option will also provide ls-like details in create and extract mode. 

--version
 

Print version of 

'''tar''' 

and 

'''libarchive''', 

and exit. 

-w, --confirmation, --interactive
 

Ask for confirmation for every action. 

-X ''filename'', --exclude-from ''filename''
 

Read a list of exclusion patterns from the specified file. 

See 

--exclude 

for more information about the handling of exclusions. 

--xattrs
 

(c, r, u, x modes only) 

Archive or extract extended attributes. This is the reverse of 

--no-xattrs 

and the default behavior in c, r, and u modes or if 

'''tar''' 

is run in x mode as root. 

-y
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the resulting archive with 

[[bzip2(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bzip2&sektion=1]]. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes bzip2 compression automatically when reading 

archives. 

-Z, --compress, --uncompress
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the resulting archive with 

[[compress(1)|http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=compress&sektion=1]]. 

In extract or list modes, this option is ignored. 

Note that this 

'''tar''' 

implementation recognizes compress compression automatically when reading 

archives. 

-z, --gunzip, --gzip
 

(c mode only) 

Compress the resulting archive with