Linux "tar" Command Line Options and Examples

an archiving utility

GNU tar is an archiving program designed to store multiple files in a single file (an archive), and to manipu‐ late such archives. The archive can be either a regular file or a device (e.g.

Usage:

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

Related Commands

Command Line Options:

--check-device

Check device numbers when creating incremental archives (default).


                            tar --check-device ...

-g

Handle new GNU-format incremental backups. FILE is the name of a snapshot file, where tar stores addi‐tional 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 cre‐ated and all files will be added to the resulting archive (the level 0 dump). To create incrementalarchives of non-zero level N, create a copy of the snapshot file created during the level N-1, and useit as FILE.When listing or extracting, the actual contents of FILE is not inspected, it is needed only due to syn‐tactical requirements. It is therefore common practice to use /dev/null in its place.


                            tar -g ...

--hole-detection

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


                            tar --hole-detection ...

-G

Handle old GNU-format incremental backups.


                            tar -G ...

--ignore-failed-read

Do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files.


                            tar --ignore-failed-read ...

--level

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


                            tar --level ...

-n

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


                            tar -n ...

--no-check-device

Do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives.


                            tar --no-check-device ...

--no-seek

Assume the archive is not seekable.


                            tar --no-seek ...

--occurrence[

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


                            tar --occurrence[ ...

--restrict

Disable the use of some potentially harmful options.


                            tar --restrict ...

--sparse-version

Set version of the sparse format to use (implies --sparse). This option implies --sparse. Valid argu‐ment values are 0.0, 0.1, and 1.0. For a detailed discussion of sparse formats, refer to the GNU TarManual, appendix D, "Sparse Formats". Using info reader, it can be accessed running the following com‐mand: info tar 'Sparse Formats'.


                            tar --sparse-version ...

-S

Handle sparse files efficiently. Some files in the file system may have segments which were actuallynever written (quite often these are database files created by such systems as DBM). When given thisoption, tar attempts to determine if the file is sparse prior to archiving it, and if so, to reduce theresulting archive size by not dumping empty parts of the file.Overwrite controlThese options control tar actions when extracting a file over an existing copy on disk.


                            tar -S ...

-k

Don't replace existing files when extracting.


                            tar -k ...

--keep-newer-files

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


                            tar --keep-newer-files ...

--no-overwrite-dir

Preserve metadata of existing directories.


                            tar --no-overwrite-dir ...

--one-top-level[

Extract all files into DIR, or, if used without argument, into a subdirectory named by the base name ofthe archive (minus standard compression suffixes recognizable by --auto-compress).


                            tar --one-top-level[ ...

--overwrite

Overwrite existing files when extracting.


                            tar --overwrite ...

--overwrite-dir

Overwrite metadata of existing directories when extracting (default).


                            tar --overwrite-dir ...

--recursive-unlink

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


                            tar --recursive-unlink ...

--remove-files

Remove files from disk after adding them to the archive.


                            tar --remove-files ...

--skip-old-files

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


                            tar --skip-old-files ...

-U

Remove each file prior to extracting over it.


                            tar -U ...

-W

Verify the archive after writing it.Output stream selection


                            tar -W ...

--ignore-command-error

Ignore subprocess exit codes.


                            tar --ignore-command-error ...

--no-ignore-command-error

Treat non-zero exit codes of children as error (default).


                            tar --no-ignore-command-error ...

-O

Extract files to standard output.


                            tar -O ...

--to-command

Pipe extracted files to COMMAND. The argument is the pathname of an external program, optionally withcommand line arguments. The program will be invoked and the contents of the file being extracted sup‐plied to it on its standard output. Additional data will be supplied via the following environmentvariables:TAR_FILETYPEType of the file. It is a single letter with the following meaning:f Regular filed Directoryl Symbolic linkh Hard linkb Block devicec Character deviceCurrently only regular files are supported.TAR_MODEFile mode, an octal number.TAR_FILENAMEThe name of the file.TAR_REALNAMEName of the file as stored in the archive.TAR_UNAMEName of the file owner.TAR_GNAMEName of the file owner group.TAR_ATIMETime of last access. It is a decimal number, representing seconds since the Epoch. If the ar‐chive provides times with nanosecond precision, the nanoseconds are appended to the timestampafter a decimal point.TAR_MTIMETime of last modification.TAR_CTIMETime of last status change.TAR_SIZESize of the file.TAR_UIDUID of the file owner.TAR_GIDGID of the file owner.Additionally, the following variables contain information about tar operation mode and the archivebeing processed:TAR_VERSIONGNU tar version number.TAR_ARCHIVEThe name of the archive tar is processing.TAR_BLOCKING_FACTORCurrent blocking factor, i.e. number of 512-byte blocks in a record.TAR_VOLUMEOrdinal number of the volume tar is processing (set if reading a multi-volume archive).TAR_FORMATFormat of the archive being processed. One of: gnu, oldgnu, posix, ustar, v7. TAR_SUBCOMMAND Ashort option (with a leading dash) describing the operation tar is executing.Handling of file attributes


                            tar --to-command ...

--atime-preserve[

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)


                            tar --atime-preserve[ ...

--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.


                            tar --delay-directory-restore ...

--group

Force NAME as group for added files. If GID is not supplied, NAME can be either a user name or numericGID. In this case the missing part (GID or name) will be inferred from the current host's group data‐base.When used with --group-map=FILE, affects only those files whose owner group is not listed in FILE.


                            tar --group ...

--group-map

Read group translation map from FILE. Empty lines are ignored. Comments are introduced with # signand extend to the end of line. Each non-empty line in FILE defines translation for a single group. Itmust 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 mustalso be either a valid group name or a +GID. Otherwise, both NEWGRP and NEWGID need not be listed inthe system group database.As a result, each input file with owner group OLDGRP will be stored in archive with owner group NEWGRPand GID NEWGID.


                            tar --group-map ...

--mode

Force symbolic mode CHANGES for added files.


                            tar --mode ...

--mtime

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


                            tar --mtime ...

-m

Don't extract file modified time.


                            tar -m ...

--no-delay-directory-restore

Cancel the effect of the prior --delay-directory-restore option.


                            tar --no-delay-directory-restore ...

--no-same-owner

Extract files as yourself (default for ordinary users).


                            tar --no-same-owner ...

--no-same-permissions

Apply the user's umask when extracting permissions from the archive (default for ordinary users).


                            tar --no-same-permissions ...

--numeric-owner

Always use numbers for user/group names.


                            tar --numeric-owner ...

--owner

Force NAME as owner for added files. If UID is not supplied, NAME can be either a user name or numericUID. In this case the missing part (UID or name) will be inferred from the current host's user data‐base.When used with --owner-map=FILE, affects only those files whose owner is not listed in FILE.


                            tar --owner ...

--owner-map

Read owner translation map from FILE. Empty lines are ignored. Comments are introduced with # signand extend to the end of line. Each non-empty line in FILE defines translation for a single UID. Itmust 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 mustalso be either a valid user name or a +UID. Otherwise, both NEWUSR and NEWUID need not be listed inthe system user database.As a result, each input file owned by OLDUSR will be stored in archive with owner name NEWUSR and UIDNEWUID.


                            tar --owner-map ...

-p

extract information about file permissions (default for superuser)


                            tar -p ...

--preserve

Same as both -p and -s.


                            tar --preserve ...

--same-owner

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


                            tar --same-owner ...

-s

Sort names to extract to match archive


                            tar -s ...

--sort

When creating an archive, sort directory entries according to ORDER, which is one of none, name, orinode.The default is --sort=none, which stores archive members in the same order as returned by the operatingsystem.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 consid‐erably speed up archivation. This sorting order is supported only if the underlying system providesthe necessary information.Extended file attributes


                            tar --sort ...

--acls

Enable POSIX ACLs support.


                            tar --acls ...

--no-acls

Disable POSIX ACLs support.


                            tar --no-acls ...

--selinux

Enable SELinux context support.


                            tar --selinux ...

--no-selinux

Disable SELinux context support.


                            tar --no-selinux ...

--xattrs

Enable extended attributes support.


                            tar --xattrs ...

--no-xattrs

Disable extended attributes support.


                            tar --no-xattrs ...

--xattrs-exclude

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


                            tar --xattrs-exclude ...

--xattrs-include

Specify the include pattern for xattr keys. PATTERN is a POSIX regular expression.Device selection and switching


                            tar --xattrs-include ...

-f

Use archive file or device ARCHIVE. If this option is not given, tar will first examine the environ‐ment variable `TAPE'. If it is set, its value will be used as the archive name. Otherwise, tar willassume the compiled-in default. The default value can be inspected either using the --show-defaultsoption, 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 beforethe colon is taken as the machine name or IP address, and the part after it as the file or device path‐name, e.g.:


                            tar -f ...

--file

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:


                            tar --file ...

--rsh-command

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


                            tar --rsh-command ...

--force-local

Archive file is local even if it has a colon.


                            tar --force-local ...

-F

Run COMMAND at the end of each tape (implies -M). The command can include arguments. When started, itwill inherit tar's environment plus the following variables:TAR_VERSIONGNU tar version number.TAR_ARCHIVEThe name of the archive tar is processing.TAR_BLOCKING_FACTORCurrent blocking factor, i.e. number of 512-byte blocks in a record.TAR_VOLUMEOrdinal number of the volume tar is processing (set if reading a multi-volume archive).TAR_FORMATFormat of the archive being processed. One of: gnu, oldgnu, posix, ustar, v7.TAR_SUBCOMMANDA 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.


                            tar -F ...

-L

Change tape after writing Nx1024 bytes. If N is followed by a size suffix (see the subsection Sizesuffixes below), the suffix specifies the multiplicative factor to be used instead of 1024.This option implies -M.


                            tar -L ...

-M

Create/list/extract multi-volume archive.


                            tar -M ...

--rmt-command

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


                            tar --rmt-command ...

--volno-file

When this option is used in conjunction with --multi-volume, tar will keep track of which volume of amulti-volume archive it is working in FILE.Device blocking


                            tar --volno-file ...

-b

Set record size to BLOCKSx512 bytes.


                            tar -b ...

-B

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


                            tar -B ...

-i

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


                            tar -i ...

--record-size

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


                            tar --record-size ...

-H

Create archive of the given format. Valid formats are:gnu GNU tar 1.13.x formatoldgnu GNU format as per tar <= 1.12.pax, posixPOSIX 1003.1-2001 (pax) format.ustar POSIX 1003.1-1988 (ustar) format.v7 Old V7 tar format.


                            tar -H ...

--old-archive

Same as --format=v7.


                            tar --old-archive ...

--pax-option

Control pax keywords when creating PAX archives (-H pax). This option is equivalent to the -o optionof the pax(1)utility.


                            tar --pax-option ...

--posix

Same as --format=posix.


                            tar --posix ...

-V

Create archive with volume name TEXT. If listing or extracting, use TEXT as a globbing pattern forvolume name.Compression options


                            tar -V ...

-a

Use archive suffix to determine the compression program.


                            tar -a ...

-I

Filter data through COMMAND. It must accept the -d option, for decompression. The argument can con‐tain command line options.


                            tar -I ...

-j

Filter the archive through bzip2(1).


                            tar -j ...

-J

Filter the archive through xz(1).


                            tar -J ...

--lzip

Filter the archive through lzip(1).


                            tar --lzip ...

--lzma

Filter the archive through lzma(1).


                            tar --lzma ...

--lzop

Filter the archive through lzop(1).


                            tar --lzop ...

--no-auto-compress

Do not use archive suffix to determine the compression program.


                            tar --no-auto-compress ...

-z

Filter the archive through gzip(1).


                            tar -z ...

-Z

Filter the archive through compress(1).Local file selection


                            tar -Z ...

--add-file

Add FILE to the archive (useful if its name starts with a dash).


                            tar --add-file ...

--backup[

Backup before removal. The CONTROL argument, if supplied, controls the backup policy. Its valid val‐ues are:none, offNever make backups.t, numberedMake numbered backups.nil, existingMake numbered backups if numbered backups exist, simple backups otherwise.never, simpleAlways make simple backupsIf CONTROL is not given, the value is taken from the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. If it isnot set, existing is assumed.


                            tar --backup[ ...

-C

Change to DIR before performing any operations. This option is order-sensitive, i.e. it affects alloptions that follow.


                            tar -C ...

--exclude

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


                            tar --exclude ...

--exclude-backups

Exclude backup and lock files.


                            tar --exclude-backups ...

--exclude-caches

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


                            tar --exclude-caches ...

--exclude-caches-all

Exclude directories containing file CACHEDIR.TAG and the file itself.


                            tar --exclude-caches-all ...

--exclude-caches-under

Exclude everything under directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG


                            tar --exclude-caches-under ...

--exclude-ignore

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


                            tar --exclude-ignore ...

--exclude-ignore-recursive

Same as --exclude-ignore, except that patterns from FILE affect both the directory and all its subdi‐rectories.


                            tar --exclude-ignore-recursive ...

--exclude-tag

Exclude contents of directories containing FILE, except for FILE itself.


                            tar --exclude-tag ...

--exclude-tag-all

Exclude directories containing FILE.


                            tar --exclude-tag-all ...

--exclude-tag-under

Exclude everything under directories containing FILE.


                            tar --exclude-tag-under ...

--exclude-vcs

Exclude version control system directories.


                            tar --exclude-vcs ...

--exclude-vcs-ignores

Exclude files that match patterns read from VCS-specific ignore files. Supported files are: .cvsig‐nore, .gitignore, .bzrignore, and .hgignore.


                            tar --exclude-vcs-ignores ...

-h

Follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they point to.


                            tar -h ...

--hard-dereference

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


                            tar --hard-dereference ...

-K

Begin at the given member in the archive.


                            tar -K ...

--newer-mtime

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


                            tar --newer-mtime ...

--no-null

Disable the effect of the previous --null option.


                            tar --no-null ...

--no-recursion

Avoid descending automatically in directories.


                            tar --no-recursion ...

--no-unquote

Do not unquote input file or member names.


                            tar --no-unquote ...

--no-verbatim-files-from

Treat each line read from a file list as if it were supplied in the command line. I.e., leading andtrailing whitespace is removed and, if the resulting string begins with a dash, it is treated as tarcommand line option.This is the default behavior. The --no-verbatim-files-from option is provided as a way to restore itafter --verbatim-files-from option.This option is positional: it affects all --files-from options that occur after it in, until --verba‐tim-files-from option or end of line, whichever occurs first.It is implied by the --no-null option.


                            tar --no-verbatim-files-from ...

-N

Only store files newer than DATE. If DATE starts with / or . it is taken to be a file name; the ctimeof that file is used as the date.


                            tar -N ...

--one-file-system

Stay in local file system when creating archive.


                            tar --one-file-system ...

-P

Don't strip leading slashes from file names when creating archives.


                            tar -P ...

--recursion

Recurse into directories (default).


                            tar --recursion ...

--suffix

Backup before removal, override usual suffix. Default suffix is ~, unless overridden by environmentvariable SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.


                            tar --suffix ...

-T

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 nameper line). The names read are handled the same way as command line arguments. They undergo quoteremoval 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 ofLF. It is useful if the list is generated by find(1) -print0 predicate.


                            tar -T ...

--unquote

Unquote file or member names (default).


                            tar --unquote ...

--verbatim-files-from

Treat each line obtained from a file list as a file name, even if it starts with a dash. File listsare supplied with the --files-from (-T) option. The default behavior is to handle names supplied infile lists as if they were typed in the command line, i.e. any names starting with a dash are treatedas 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 isreverted by the --no-verbatim-files-from} option.This option is implied by the --null option.See also --add-file.


                            tar --verbatim-files-from ...

-X

Exclude files matching patterns listed in FILE.File name transformations


                            tar -X ...

--strip-components

Strip NUMBER leading components from file names on extraction.


                            tar --strip-components ...

--transform

Use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file names.File name matching optionsThese options affect both exclude and include patterns.


                            tar --transform ...

--anchored

Patterns match file name start.


                            tar --anchored ...

--no-anchored

Patterns match after any / (default for exclusion).


                            tar --no-anchored ...

--no-ignore-case

Case sensitive matching (default).


                            tar --no-ignore-case ...

--no-wildcards

Verbatim string matching.


                            tar --no-wildcards ...

--no-wildcards-match-slash

Wildcards do not match /.


                            tar --no-wildcards-match-slash ...

--wildcards

Use wildcards (default for exclusion).


                            tar --wildcards ...

--wildcards-match-slash

Wildcards match / (default for exclusion).Informative output


                            tar --wildcards-match-slash ...

--checkpoint[

Display progress messages every Nth record (default 10).


                            tar --checkpoint[ ...

--checkpoint-action

Run ACTION on each checkpoint.


                            tar --checkpoint-action ...

--clamp-mtime

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


                            tar --clamp-mtime ...

--full-time

Print file time to its full resolution.


                            tar --full-time ...

--index-file

Send verbose output to FILE.


                            tar --index-file ...

-l

Print a message if not all links are dumped.


                            tar -l ...

--no-quote-chars

Disable quoting for characters from STRING.


                            tar --no-quote-chars ...

--quote-chars

Additionally quote characters from STRING.


                            tar --quote-chars ...

--quoting-style

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


                            tar --quoting-style ...

-R

Show block number within archive with each message.


                            tar -R ...

--show-omitted-dirs

When listing or extracting, list each directory that does not match search criteria.


                            tar --show-omitted-dirs ...

--show-transformed-names

Show file or archive names after transformation by --strip and --transform options.


                            tar --show-transformed-names ...

--totals[

Print total bytes after processing the archive. If SIGNAL is given, print total bytes when this signalis delivered. Allowed signals are: SIGHUP, SIGQUIT, SIGINT, SIGUSR1, and SIGUSR2. The SIG prefix canbe omitted.


                            tar --totals[ ...

--utc

Print file modification times in UTC.


                            tar --utc ...

-v

Verbosely list files processed.


                            tar -v ...

--warning

Enable or disable warning messages identified by KEYWORD. The messages are suppressed if KEYWORD isprefixed 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-programControls verbose description of failures occurring when trying to run alternative decompressorprograms. This warning is disabled by default (unless --verbose is used). A common example ofwhat you can get when using this warning is:$ tar --warning=decompress-program -x -f archive.Ztar (child): cannot run compress: No such file or directorytar (child): trying gzipThis 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"


                            tar --warning ...

-w

Ask for confirmation for every action.Compatibility options


                            tar -w ...

-o

Size suffixesSuffix Units Byte Equivalentb Blocks SIZE x 512B Kilobytes SIZE x 1024c Bytes SIZEG Gigabytes SIZE x 1024^3K Kilobytes SIZE x 1024k Kilobytes SIZE x 1024M Megabytes SIZE x 1024^2P Petabytes SIZE x 1024^5T Terabytes SIZE x 1024^4w Words SIZE x 2RETURN VALUETar exit code indicates whether it was able to successfully perform the requested operation, and if not, whatkind of error occurred.0 Successful termination.1 Some files differ. If tar was invoked with the --compare (--diff, -d) command line option, this meansthat some files in the archive differ from their disk counterparts. If tar was given one of the --cre‐ate, --append or --update options, this exit code means that some files were changed while beingarchived 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 codeas well. This can happen, for example, if a compression option (e.g. -z) was used and the external compressorprogram failed. Another example is rmt failure during backup to a remote device.


                            tar -o ...