(tar)Extracting Archive Members

Comparing Archives Members with Files

Listing Archive Members

Basic tar Operations

Extracting Archive Members
==========================

     *(This message will disappear, once this node revised.)*

   Use `--extract' (`-x') or `--get' to extract members from an
archive.  For each member named (or for the entire archive if no
members are named) on the command line--or with
`--files-from=FILE-OF-NAMES' (`-T FILE-OF-NAMES')--the a file is
created with the contents of the archive member.  The name of the file
is the same as the member name.

   Various options cause `tar' to extract more than just file contents,
such as the owner, the permissions, the modification date, and so forth.

FIXME: begin
   The `--same-permissions' (`-p') or `--preserve-permissions' options
cause `tar' to cause the new file to have the same permissions as the
original file did when it was placed in the archive.  Without this
option, the current `umask' is used to affect the permissions.

   When extrating, `tar' normally sets the modification time of the
file to the value recorded in the archive.  The `--modification-time'
(`-m') option causes `tar' to omit doing this.
FIXME: end

   To read archive members from the archive and write them into the file
system, use `--extract' (`-x').  The archive itself is left unchanged.

   If you do not specify the files to extract, `tar' extracts all the
files in the archive.  If you specify the name of a directory as a file
name argument, `tar' will extract all files which have been stored as
part of that directory.  If a file was stored with a directory name as
part of its file name, and that directory does not exist under the
working directory when the file is extracted, `tar' will create the
directory.
FIXME: xref Selecting Archive
Members
   , for information on specifying files to extract.

   The following example shows the extraction of the archive `stooges'
into an empty directory:

     tar --extract --file=stooges

Generating a listing of the directory (`ls') produces:

     larry
     moe
     shemp
     marx

The subdirectory `marx' contains the files `julius', `alexander' and
`karl'.

   If you wanted to just extract the files in the subdirectory `marx',
you could specify that directory as a file name argument in conjunction
with the `--extract' (`-x') operation:

     tar --extract --file=stooges marx

     *Warning:* Extraction can overwrite files in the file system.  To
     avoid losing files in the file system when extracting files from
     the archive with the same name, use the `--keep-old-files' (`-k')
     option (
     FIXME: pxref File Writing Options
     ).

   If the archive was created using `--block-size=512-SIZE' (`-b
512-SIZE'), `--compress' (`-Z') or `--multi-volume' (`-M'), you must
specify those format options again when extracting files from the
archive (
FIXME: pxref Format Variations
   ).

Archive Reading Options

File Writing Options

Scarce Disk Space