-A, --catenate, --concatenate
append tar files to an archive

-c, --create
create a new archive

-d, --diff, --compare
find differences between archive and file system

--delete
delete from the archive (not on mag tapes!)

-r, --append
append files to the end of an archive

-t, --list
list the contents of an archive

--test-label
test the archive volume label and exit

-u, --update
only append files newer than copy in archive

-x, --extract, --get
extract files from an archive

-a, --auto-compress
use archive suffix to determine the compression program

--acls
Enable the POSIX ACLs support

--no-acls
Disable the POSIX ACLs support

--add-file=FILE
add given FILE to the archive (useful if its name starts with a dash)

--anchored
patterns match file name start

--no-anchored
patterns match after any '/' (default for exclusion)

--atime-preserve
preserve access times on dumped files, either by restoring the times

--no-auto-compress
do not use archive suffix to determine the compression program

-b, --blocking-factor BLOCKS
BLOCKS x 512 bytes per record

-B, --read-full-records
reblock as we read (for 4.2BSD pipes)

--backup
backup before removal, choose version CONTROL

-C, --directory DIR
change to directory DIR

--check-device
check device numbers when creating incremental archives (default)

--no-check-device
do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives

--checkpoint
display progress messages every NUMBERth record (default 10)

--checkpoint-action=ACTION
execute ACTION on each checkpoint

--delay-directory-restore
delay setting modification times and permissions of extracted

--no-delay-directory-restore
cancel the effect of --delay-directory-restore option

--exclude=PATTERN
exclude files, given as a PATTERN

--exclude-backups
exclude backup and lock files

--exclude-caches
exclude contents of directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG,

--exclude-caches-all
exclude directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG

--exclude-caches-under
exclude everything under directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG

--exclude-tag=FILE
exclude contents of directories containing FILE, except

--exclude-tag-all=FILE
exclude directories containing FILE

--exclude-tag-under=FILE
exclude everything under directories containing FILE

--exclude-vcs
exclude version control system directories

-f, --file ARCHIVE
use archive file or device ARCHIVE

-F, --info-script, --new-volume-script NAME
run script at end of each tape (implies -M)

--force-local
archive file is local even if it has a colon

--full-time
print file time to its full resolution

-g, --listed-incremental FILE
handle new GNU-format incremental backup

-G, --incremental
handle old GNU-format incremental backup

--group=NAME
force NAME as group for added files

-h, --dereference
follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they point to

-H, --format FORMAT
create archive of the given format where FORMAT is one of the following:
|
|    --format=gnu
|    GNU tar 1.13.x format
|
|    --format=oldgnu
|    GNU format as per tar <= 1.12
|
|    --format=pax
|    POSIX 1003.1-2001 (pax) format
|
|    --format=posix
|    same as pax
|
|    --format=ustar
|    POSIX 1003.1-1988 (ustar) format
|
|    --format=v7
|    old V7 tar format

--hard-dereference
follow hard links; archive and dump the files they refer to

-i, --ignore-zeros
ignore zeroed blocks in archive (means EOF)

-I, --use-compress-program PROG
filter through PROG (must accept -d)

--ignore-case
ignore case

--no-ignore-case
case sensitive matching (default)

--ignore-command-error
ignore exit codes of children

--no-ignore-command-error
treat non-zero exit codes of children as error

--ignore-failed-read
do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files

--index-file=FILE
send verbose output to FILE

-j, --bzip2

-J, --xz

-k, --keep-old-files

-K, --starting-file MEMBER-NAME
begin at member MEMBER-NAME when reading the archive

--keep-directory-symlink
preserve existing symlinks to directories when extracting

--keep-newer-files
don't replace existing files that are newer than their archive copies

-l, --check-links
print a message if not all links are dumped

-L, --tape-length NUMBER
change tape after writing NUMBER x 1024 bytes

--level=NUMBER
dump level for created listed-incremental archive

--lzip

--lzma

--lzop

-m, --touch
don't extract file modified time

-M, --multi-volume
create/list/extract multi-volume archive

--mode=CHANGES
force (symbolic) mode CHANGES for added files

--mtime=DATE-OR-FILE
set mtime for added files from DATE-OR-FILE

-n, --seek
archive is seekable

-N, --newer, --after-date DATE-OR-FILE
only store files newer than DATE-OR-FILE

--newer-mtime=DATE
compare date and time when data changed only

--null
-T reads null-terminated names, disable -C

--no-null
disable the effect of the previous --null option

--numeric-owner
always use numbers for user/group names

-O, --to-stdout
extract files to standard output

--occurrence
process only the NUMBERth occurrence of each file in the archive;

--old-archive, --portability
same as --format=v7

--one-file-system
stay in local file system when creating archive

--overwrite
overwrite existing files when extracting

--overwrite-dir
overwrite metadata of existing directories when extracting (default)

--no-overwrite-dir
preserve metadata of existing directories

--owner=NAME
force NAME as owner for added files

-p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions
extract information about file permissions (default for superuser)

-P, --absolute-names
don't strip leading '/'s from file names

--pax-option=keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value]]...
control pax keywords

--posix
same as --format=posix

--preserve
same as both -p and -s

--quote-chars=STRING
additionally quote characters from STRING

--no-quote-chars=STRING
disable quoting for characters from STRING

--quoting-style=STYLE
set name quoting style; see below for valid STYLE values

-R, --block-number
show block number within archive with each message

--record-size=NUMBER
NUMBER of bytes per record, multiple of 512

--recursion
recurse into directories (default)

--no-recursion
avoid descending automatically in directories

--recursive-unlink
empty hierarchies prior to extracting directory

--remove-files
remove files after adding them to the archive

--restrict
disable use of some potentially harmful options

--rmt-command=COMMAND
use given rmt COMMAND instead of rmt

--rsh-command=COMMAND
use remote COMMAND instead of rsh

-s, --preserve-order, --same-order
member arguments are listed in the same order as the

-S, --sparse
handle sparse files efficiently

--same-owner
try extracting files with the same ownership as exists in the archive
(default for superuser)

--no-same-owner
extract files as yourself (default for ordinary users)

--no-same-permissions
apply the user's umask when extracting permissions from the archive
(default for ordinary users)

--no-seek
archive is not seekable

--selinux
Enable the SELinux context support

--no-selinux
Disable the SELinux context support

--show-defaults
show tar defaults

--show-omitted-dirs
when listing or extracting, list each directory that does not match
search criteria

--show-snapshot-field-ranges
show valid ranges for snapshot-file fields

--show-transformed-names, --show-stored-names
show file or archive names after transformation

--skip-old-files
don't replace existing files when extracting, silently skip over them

--sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR]
set version of the sparse format to use (implies --sparse)

--strip-components=NUMBER
strip NUMBER leading components from file names on extraction

--suffix=STRING
backup before removal, override usual suffix ('~' unless overridden by
environment variable SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX)

-T, --files-from FILE
get names to extract or create from FILE

--to-command=COMMAND
pipe extracted files to another program

--totals
print total bytes after processing the archive;

--transform, --xform EXPRESSION
use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file names

-U, --unlink-first
remove each file prior to extracting over it

--unquote
unquote filenames read with -T (default)

--no-unquote
do not unquote filenames read with -T

--utc
print file modification times in UTC

-v, --verbose
verbosely list files processed

-V, --label TEXT
create archive with volume name TEXT; at list/extract time, use TEXT
as a globbing pattern for volume name

--volno-file=FILE
use/update the volume number in FILE

-w, --interactive, --confirmation
ask for confirmation for every action

-W, --verify
attempt to verify the archive after writing it

--warning=KEYWORD
warning control

--wildcards
use wildcards (default for exclusion)

--wildcards-match-slash
wildcards match '/' (default for exclusion)

--no-wildcards-match-slash
wildcards do not match '/'

--no-wildcards
verbatim string matching

-X, --exclude-from FILE
exclude patterns listed in FILE

--xattrs
Enable extended attributes support

--xattrs-exclude=MASK
specify the exclude pattern for xattr keys

--xattrs-include=MASK
specify the include pattern for xattr keys

--no-xattrs
Disable extended attributes support

-z, --gzip, --gunzip --ungzip

-Z, --compress, --uncompress
