(tar)Interactive Operation

Write Verification

Checking Progress

Being Careful

Asking for Confirmation During Operations
=========================================

   Typically, `tar' carries out a command without stopping for further
instructions.  In some situations however, you may want to exclude some
files and archive members from the operation (for instance if disk or
storage space is tight).  You can do this by excluding certain files
automatically (
FIXME: pxref File Exclusion
   ), or by performing an operation interactively, using the
`--interactive' (`-w') option.  `tar' also accepts `--confirmation' for
this option.

   When the `--interactive' (`-w') option is specified, before reading,
writing, or deleting files, `tar' first prints a message for each such
file, telling what operation it intends to take, then asks for
confirmation on the terminal.  The actions which require confirmation
include adding a file to the archive, extracting a file from the
archive, deleting a file from the archive, and deleting a file from
disk.  To confirm the action, you must type a line of input beginning
with `y'.  If your input line begins with anything other than `y',
`tar' skips that file.

   If `tar' is reading the archive from the standard input, `tar' opens
the file `/dev/tty' to support the interactive communications.