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ar(1)

bundle(1)

tapefs(1)

TAR(1)

NAME

tar − archiver

SYNOPSIS

­tar ­key [ ­file ...  ]

DESCRIPTION

­Tar saves and restores file trees.  It is most often used to transport a tree of files from one system to another.  The ­key is a string that contains at most one function letter plus optional modifiers.  Other arguments to the command are names of files or directories to be dumped or restored.  A directory name implies all the contained files and subdirectories (recursively). 

The function is one of the following letters:

­c Create a new archive with the given files as contents. 

­x Extract the named files from the archive.  If a file is a directory, the directory is extracted recursively.  Modes are restored if possible.  If no file argument is given, extract the entire archive.  If the archive contains multiple entries for a file, the latest one wins. 

­t List all occurrences of each ­file in the archive, or of all files if there are no ­file arguments. 

­r The named files are appended to the archive. 

The modifiers are:

­v (verbose) Print the name of each file treated preceded by the function letter.  With t, give more details about the archive entries. 

­f Use the next argument as the name of the archive instead of the default standard input (for keys ­x and t) or standard output (for keys ­c and r). 

­u Use the next (numeric) argument as the user id for files in the output archive.  This is only useful when moving files to a non-Plan 9 system. 

­g Use the next (numeric) argument as the group id for files in the output archive. 

­T Modifies the behavior of ­x to set the mode and modified time of each file to that specified in the archive. 

EXAMPLES

­Tar can be used to copy hierarchies thus:

{cd fromdir && tar c .} | {cd todir && tar xT}

SOURCE

­/sys/src/cmd/tar.c

SEE ALSO

ar(1), bundle(1), tapefs(1)

BUGS

There is no way to ask for any but the last occurrence of a file. 
File path names are limited to 100 characters.
The tar format allows specification of links and symbolic links, concepts foreign to Plan 9: they are ignored.

Plan 9  —  July 29, 2000

Typewritten Software • bear@typewritten.org • Edmonds, WA 98026