tar [-]{crtux}[befhmopvwzHLPXZ014578] [archive] [blocksize] [-C directory
         ] [-s replstr ] file1 [file2...]

DESCRIPTION

     The tar command creates, adds files to, or extracts files from an archive
     file in tar format.  A tar archive is often stored on a magnetic tape,
     but can be a floppy or a regular disk file.

     One of the following flags must be present:

     -c            Create new archive, or overwrite an existing archive,
                   adding the specified files to it.

     -r            Append the named new files to existing archive.  Note that
                   this will only work on media on which an end-of-file mark
                   can be overwritten.

     -t            List contents of archive.  If any files are named on the
                   command line, only those files will be listed.

     -u            Alias for -r

     -x            Extract files from archive.  If any files are named on the
                   command line, only those files will be extracted from the
                   archive.  If more than one copy of a file exists in the
                   archive, later copies will overwrite earlier copies during
                   extration.

     In addition to the flags mentioned above, any of the following flags may
     be used:

     -b blocksize  Set block size to use for archive.  Any multiple of 512 be-
                   tween 10240 and 32256 may be used.

     -e            Stop after first error.

     -f archive    Filename where the archive is stored.  Defaults to
                   /dev/rmt8

     -h            Follow symbolic links as if they were normal files or di-
                   rectories.

     -m            Do not preserve modification time.

     -o            Do not create directories.

     -p            Preserve user id, group id, file mode, access and modifica-
                   tion times.

     -s replstr    Modify the file or archive member names specified by the
                   pattern or file operands according to the substitution ex-
                   pression replstr, using the syntax of the ed(1) utility
                   tution. The first unsuccessful substitution stops the oper-
                   ation of the g option.  The optional trailing p will cause
                   the final result of a successful substitution to be written
                   to standard error in the following format:
                         <original pathname> >> <new pathname>
                   File or archive member names that substitute to the empty
                   string are not selected and will be skipped.

     -v            Verbose operation mode.

     -w            Interactively rename files.

     -z            Compress archive using gzip.

     -C directory  This is a positional argument which sets the working direc-
                   tory for the following files.  When extracting, files will
                   be extracted into the specified directory; when creating,
                   the specified files will be matched from the directory.

     -H            Follow symlinks given on command line only.

     -L            Follow all symlinks.

     -P            Do not follow any symlinks.

     -X            Do not cross mount points in the file system.

     -Z            Compress archive using compress.

     The options [-014578] can be use to select one of the compiled-in backup
     devices, /dev/rmtN.

FILES

     /dev/rmt8  The default archive name

SEE ALSO

     pax(1),  cpio(1)

AUTHOR

     Keith Muller at the University of California, San Diego

ERRORS

     tar will exit with one of the following values:

     0   All files were processed successfully.

     1   An error occured.

     Whenever tar cannot create a file or a link when extracting an archive or
     cannot find a file while writing an archive, or cannot preserve the user
     ID, group ID, file mode or access and modification times when the -p op-
     tions is specified, a diagnostic message is written to standard error and

BSD Experimental                 June 11, 1996                               3