$ find project -type f | sort
project/Makefile
project/config.ini
project/docs/readme.md
project/src/access.log
project/src/main.c
project/src/util.py

$ ls -lh project/src/access.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.6M Oct 15 18:46 project/src/access.log

Usage: tar [OPTION...] [FILE]...
GNU 'tar' saves many files together into a single tape or disk archive, and can
restore individual files from the archive.

Examples:
  tar -cf archive.tar foo bar  # Create archive.tar from files foo and bar.
  tar -tvf archive.tar         # List all files in archive.tar verbosely.
  tar -xf archive.tar          # Extract all files from archive.tar.

 Main operation mode:
  -A, --catenate, --concatenate   append tar files to an archive
  -c, --create               create a new archive
      --delete               delete from the archive (not on mag tapes!)
  -d, --diff, --compare      find differences between archive and file system
  -r, --append               append files to the end of an archive
      --test-label           test the archive volume label and exit
  -t, --list                 list the contents of an archive
  -u, --update               only append files newer than copy in archive
  -x, --extract, --get       extract files from an archive

 Operation modifiers:

      --check-device         check device numbers when creating incremental
                             archives (default)
  -g, --listed-incremental=FILE   handle new GNU-format incremental backup
  -G, --incremental          handle old GNU-format incremental backup
      --hole-detection=TYPE  technique to detect holes
      --ignore-failed-read   do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files
      --level=NUMBER         dump level for created listed-incremental archive
      --no-check-device      do not check device numbers when creating
                             incremental archives
      --no-seek              archive is not seekable
  -n, --seek                 archive is seekable
      --occurrence[=NUMBER]  process only the NUMBERth occurrence of each file
                             in the archive; this option is valid only in
                             conjunction with one of the subcommands --delete,
                             --diff, --extract or --list and when a list of
                             files is given either on the command line or via
                             the -T option; NUMBER defaults to 1
      --sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR]
                             set version of the sparse format to use (implies
                             --sparse)
  -S, --sparse               handle sparse files efficiently

 Local file name selection:
      --add-file=FILE        add given FILE to the archive (useful if its name
                             starts with a dash)
  -C, --directory=DIR        change to directory DIR
      --exclude=PATTERN      exclude files, given as a PATTERN
      --exclude-backups      exclude backup and lock files
      --exclude-caches       exclude contents of directories containing
                             CACHEDIR.TAG, except for the tag file itself
      --exclude-caches-all   exclude directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG
      --exclude-caches-under exclude everything under directories containing
                             CACHEDIR.TAG
      --exclude-ignore=FILE  read exclude patterns for each directory from
                             FILE, if it exists
      --exclude-ignore-recursive=FILE
                             read exclude patterns for each directory and its
                             subdirectories from FILE, if it exists
      --exclude-tag=FILE     exclude contents of directories containing FILE,
                             except for FILE itself
      --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
      --exclude-vcs-ignores  read exclude patterns from the VCS ignore files
      --no-null              disable the effect of the previous --null option
      --no-recursion         avoid descending automatically in directories
      --no-unquote           do not unquote input file or member names
      --no-verbatim-files-from   -T treats file names starting with dash as
                             options (default)
      --null                 -T reads null-terminated names; implies
                             --verbatim-files-from
      --recursion            recurse into directories (default)
  -T, --files-from=FILE      get names to extract or create from FILE
      --unquote              unquote input file or member names (default)
      --verbatim-files-from  -T reads file names verbatim (no escape or option
                             handling)
  -X, --exclude-from=FILE    exclude patterns listed in FILE

 File name matching options (affect both exclude and include patterns):

      --anchored             patterns match file name start
      --ignore-case          ignore case
      --no-anchored          patterns match after any '/' (default for
                             exclusion)
      --no-ignore-case       case sensitive matching (default)
      --no-wildcards         verbatim string matching
      --no-wildcards-match-slash   wildcards do not match '/'
      --wildcards            use wildcards (default for exclusion)
      --wildcards-match-slash   wildcards match '/' (default for exclusion)

 Overwrite control:

      --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
  -k, --keep-old-files       don't replace existing files when extracting,
                             treat them as errors
      --no-overwrite-dir     preserve metadata of existing directories
      --one-top-level[=DIR]  create a subdirectory to avoid having loose files
                             extracted
      --overwrite            overwrite existing files when extracting
      --overwrite-dir        overwrite metadata of existing directories when
                             extracting (default)
      --recursive-unlink     empty hierarchies prior to extracting directory
      --remove-files         remove files after adding them to the archive
      --skip-old-files       don't replace existing files when extracting,
                             silently skip over them
  -U, --unlink-first         remove each file prior to extracting over it
  -W, --verify               attempt to verify the archive after writing it

 Select output stream:

      --ignore-command-error ignore exit codes of children
      --no-ignore-command-error   treat non-zero exit codes of children as
                             error
  -O, --to-stdout            extract files to standard output
      --to-command=COMMAND   pipe extracted files to another program

 Handling of file attributes:

      --atime-preserve[=METHOD]   preserve access times on dumped files, either
                             by restoring the times after reading
                             (METHOD='replace'; default) or by not setting the
                             times in the first place (METHOD='system')
      --clamp-mtime          only set time when the file is more recent than
                             what was given with --mtime
      --delay-directory-restore   delay setting modification times and
                             permissions of extracted directories until the end
                             of extraction
      --group=NAME           force NAME as group for added files
      --group-map=FILE       use FILE to map file owner GIDs and names
      --mode=CHANGES         force (symbolic) mode CHANGES for added files
      --mtime=DATE-OR-FILE   set mtime for added files from DATE-OR-FILE
  -m, --touch                don't extract file modified time
      --no-delay-directory-restore
                             cancel the effect of --delay-directory-restore
                             option
      --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)
      --numeric-owner        always use numbers for user/group names
      --owner=NAME           force NAME as owner for added files
      --owner-map=FILE       use FILE to map file owner UIDs and names
  -p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions
                             extract information about file permissions
                             (default for superuser)
      --same-owner           try extracting files with the same ownership as
                             exists in the archive (default for superuser)
      --sort=ORDER           directory sorting order: none (default), name or
                             inode
  -s, --preserve-order, --same-order
                             member arguments are listed in the same order as
                             the files in the archive

 Handling of extended file attributes:

      --acls                 Enable the POSIX ACLs support
      --no-acls              Disable the POSIX ACLs support
      --no-selinux           Disable the SELinux context support
      --no-xattrs            Disable extended attributes support
      --selinux              Enable the SELinux context support
      --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

 Device selection and switching:

      --force-local          archive file is local even if it has a colon
  -f, --file=ARCHIVE         use archive file or device ARCHIVE
  -F, --info-script=NAME, --new-volume-script=NAME
                             run script at end of each tape (implies -M)
  -L, --tape-length=NUMBER   change tape after writing NUMBER x 1024 bytes
  -M, --multi-volume         create/list/extract multi-volume archive
      --rmt-command=COMMAND  use given rmt COMMAND instead of rmt
      --rsh-command=COMMAND  use remote COMMAND instead of rsh
      --volno-file=FILE      use/update the volume number in FILE

 Device blocking:

  -b, --blocking-factor=BLOCKS   BLOCKS x 512 bytes per record
  -B, --read-full-records    reblock as we read (for 4.2BSD pipes)
  -i, --ignore-zeros         ignore zeroed blocks in archive (means EOF)
      --record-size=NUMBER   NUMBER of bytes per record, multiple of 512

 Archive format selection:

  -H, --format=FORMAT        create archive of the given format

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

      --old-archive, --portability
                             same as --format=v7
      --pax-option=keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value]]...
                             control pax keywords
      --posix                same as --format=posix
  -V, --label=TEXT           create archive with volume name TEXT; at
                             list/extract time, use TEXT as a globbing pattern
                             for volume name

 Compression options:

  -a, --auto-compress        use archive suffix to determine the compression
                             program
  -I, --use-compress-program=PROG
                             filter through PROG (must accept -d)
  -j, --bzip2                filter the archive through bzip2
  -J, --xz                   filter the archive through xz
      --lzip                 filter the archive through lzip
      --lzma                 filter the archive through xz
      --lzop                 filter the archive through lzop
      --no-auto-compress     do not use archive suffix to determine the
                             compression program
      --zstd                 filter the archive through zstd
  -z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip   filter the archive through gzip
  -Z, --compress, --uncompress   filter the archive through compress

 Local file selection:

      --backup[=CONTROL]     backup before removal, choose version CONTROL
      --hard-dereference     follow hard links; archive and dump the files they
                             refer to
  -h, --dereference          follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they
                             point to
  -K, --starting-file=MEMBER-NAME
                             begin at member MEMBER-NAME when reading the
                             archive
      --newer-mtime=DATE     compare date and time when data changed only
  -N, --newer=DATE-OR-FILE, --after-date=DATE-OR-FILE
                             only store files newer than DATE-OR-FILE
      --one-file-system      stay in local file system when creating archive
  -P, --absolute-names       don't strip leading '/'s from file names
      --suffix=STRING        backup before removal, override usual suffix ('~'
                             unless overridden by environment variable
                             SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX)

 File name transformations:

      --strip-components=NUMBER   strip NUMBER leading components from file
                             names on extraction
      --transform=EXPRESSION, --xform=EXPRESSION
                             use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file
                             names

 Informative output:

      --checkpoint[=NUMBER]  display progress messages every NUMBERth record
                             (default 10)
      --checkpoint-action=ACTION   execute ACTION on each checkpoint
      --full-time            print file time to its full resolution
      --index-file=FILE      send verbose output to FILE
  -l, --check-links          print a message if not all links are dumped
      --no-quote-chars=STRING   disable quoting for characters from STRING
      --quote-chars=STRING   additionally quote 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
                            
      --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
      --totals[=SIGNAL]      print total bytes after processing the archive;
                             with an argument - print total bytes when this
                             SIGNAL is delivered; Allowed signals are: SIGHUP,
                             SIGQUIT, SIGINT, SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2; the names
                             without SIG prefix are also accepted
      --utc                  print file modification times in UTC
  -v, --verbose              verbosely list files processed
      --warning=KEYWORD      warning control
  -w, --interactive, --confirmation
                             ask for confirmation for every action

 Compatibility options:

  -o                         when creating, same as --old-archive; when
                             extracting, same as --no-same-owner

 Other options:

  -?, --help                 give this help list
      --restrict             disable use of some potentially harmful options
      --usage                give a short usage message
      --version              print program version

Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional
for any corresponding short options.

The backup suffix is '~', unless set with --suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.
The version control may be set with --backup or VERSION_CONTROL, values are:

  none, off       never make backups
  t, numbered     make numbered backups
  nil, existing   numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
  never, simple   always make simple backups

Valid arguments for the --quoting-style option are:

  literal
  shell
  shell-always
  shell-escape
  shell-escape-always
  c
  c-maybe
  escape
  locale
  clocale

*This* tar defaults to:
--format=gnu -f- -b20 --quoting-style=escape --rmt-command=/usr/sbin/rmt
--rsh-command=/usr/bin/rsh

$ tar --version
tar (GNU tar) 1.34
Copyright (C) 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.

$ tar -cf demo.tar project

$ ls -l demo.tar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2641920 Oct 15 18:46 demo.tar

$ tar -tf demo.tar
project/
project/src/
project/src/util.py
project/src/main.c
project/src/access.log
project/config.ini
project/Makefile
project/docs/
project/docs/readme.md

$ tar -cf; echo rc=$?
tar: option requires an argument -- 'f'
Try 'tar --help' or 'tar --usage' for more information.
rc=64

$ timeout 10 script -qec "tar -c project" /dev/null; echo rc=$?
tar: Refusing to write archive contents to terminal (missing -f option?)
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
rc=2

$ tar -c project > stdout-arch.tar; ls -l stdout-arch.tar demo.tar; rm -f stdout-arch.tar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2641920 Oct 15 18:46 demo.tar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2641920 Oct 15 18:46 stdout-arch.tar

$ tar -tvf demo.tar
drwxr-xr-x root/root         0 2026-10-15 18:46 project/
drwxr-xr-x root/root         0 2026-10-15 18:46 project/src/
-rw-r--r-- root/root       372 2026-10-15 18:46 project/src/util.py
-rw-r--r-- root/root       435 2026-10-15 18:46 project/src/main.c
-rw-r--r-- root/root   2628894 2026-10-15 18:46 project/src/access.log
-rw-r--r-- root/root        96 2026-10-15 18:46 project/config.ini
-rw-r--r-- root/root       113 2026-10-15 18:46 project/Makefile
drwxr-xr-x root/root         0 2026-10-15 18:46 project/docs/
-rw-r--r-- root/root       164 2026-10-15 18:46 project/docs/readme.md

$ rm -f demo.tar

$ tar -cvf demo.tar project
project/
project/src/
project/src/util.py
project/src/main.c
project/src/access.log
project/config.ini
project/Makefile
project/docs/
project/docs/readme.md

$ tar -cf abs.tar /root/demo/tar/project
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names

$ tar -tf abs.tar | head -6
root/demo/tar/project/
root/demo/tar/project/src/
root/demo/tar/project/src/util.py
root/demo/tar/project/src/main.c
root/demo/tar/project/src/access.log
root/demo/tar/project/config.ini

$ tar -czf demo.tgz -C /root/demo/tar/project .

$ tar -tzf demo.tgz
./
./src/
./src/util.py
./src/main.c
./src/access.log
./config.ini
./Makefile
./docs/
./docs/readme.md

$ rm -rf ex1 && mkdir ex1

$ tar -xf demo.tar -C ex1

$ find ex1 -type f | sort
ex1/project/Makefile
ex1/project/config.ini
ex1/project/docs/readme.md
ex1/project/src/access.log
ex1/project/src/main.c
ex1/project/src/util.py

$ rm -rf ex2 && mkdir ex2

$ tar -xf demo.tgz -C ex2

$ find ex2 -type f | sort
ex2/Makefile
ex2/config.ini
ex2/docs/readme.md
ex2/src/access.log
ex2/src/main.c
ex2/src/util.py

$ rm -rf ex-wild && mkdir ex-wild

$ tar -xzf demo.tar.gz -C ex-wild --wildcards "project/src/*.py"

$ find ex-wild -type f | sort
ex-wild/project/src/util.py

$ tar -cf demo.tar project

$ rm -rf ex-strip && mkdir ex-strip

$ tar -xf demo.tar -C ex-strip --strip-components=1 project/config.ini project/src/util.py

$ find ex-strip -type f | sort
ex-strip/config.ini
ex-strip/src/util.py

$ tar -czf demo.tar.gz project

$ tar -cjf demo.tar.bz2 project

$ tar -cJf demo.tar.xz project

$ ls -l demo.tar demo.tar.gz demo.tar.bz2 demo.tar.xz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2641920 Oct 15 18:46 demo.tar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   32387 Oct 15 18:46 demo.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   86075 Oct 15 18:46 demo.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   28324 Oct 15 18:46 demo.tar.xz

$ tar -tzf demo.tar.gz
project/
project/src/
project/src/util.py
project/src/main.c
project/src/access.log
project/config.ini
project/Makefile
project/docs/
project/docs/readme.md

$ tar -caf auto.tar.gz project/config.ini

$ file auto.tar.gz
auto.tar.gz: gzip compressed data, from Unix, original size modulo 2^32 10240

$ tar -caf auto.tar.xz project/config.ini

$ file auto.tar.xz
auto.tar.xz: XZ compressed data, checksum CRC64

$ tar -caf auto.tar.bz2 project/config.ini

$ file auto.tar.bz2
auto.tar.bz2: bzip2 compressed data, block size = 900k

$ tar -tf auto.tar.xz; echo rc=$?
project/config.ini
rc=0

$ tar -czf excl.tar.gz --exclude="*.log" --exclude="*.md" project

$ tar -tzf excl.tar.gz
project/
project/src/
project/src/util.py
project/src/main.c
project/config.ini
project/Makefile
project/docs/

$ mkdir -p fakeproj/.git && echo "[core]" > fakeproj/.git/config && echo hello > fakeproj/a.txt

$ tar -czf novcs.tar.gz fakeproj

$ tar -tzf novcs.tar.gz
fakeproj/
fakeproj/a.txt
fakeproj/.git/
fakeproj/.git/config

$ tar --exclude-vcs -czf novcs2.tar.gz fakeproj

$ tar -tzf novcs2.tar.gz
fakeproj/
fakeproj/a.txt

$ tar -cf add.tar project/config.ini

$ tar -rf add.tar project/Makefile

$ tar -tf add.tar
project/config.ini
project/Makefile

$ tar -rf demo.tar.gz project/docs/readme.md; echo rc=$?
tar: Cannot update compressed archives
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
rc=2

$ tar -df demo.tar project; echo rc=$?
rc=0

$ sleep 2

$ echo "# appended for tar -d test" >> project/config.ini

$ tar -df demo.tar project; echo rc=$?
project/config.ini: Mod time differs
project/config.ini: Size differs
rc=1

$ tar -uf add.tar project/config.ini

$ tar -tf add.tar
project/config.ini
project/Makefile
project/config.ini

$ tar -df add.tar project; echo rc=$?
project/config.ini: Mod time differs
project/config.ini: Size differs
rc=1

$ tar --delete -f add.tar project/config.ini

$ tar -tf add.tar
project/Makefile

$ cp -r project scratch

$ tar -czf scratch.tar.gz --remove-files scratch

$ ls -d scratch; echo rc=$?
ls: cannot access 'scratch': No such file or directory
rc=2

$ tar -tzf scratch.tar.gz | head -3
scratch/
scratch/src/
scratch/src/util.py

$ chmod 600 project/config.ini

$ tar -cf perm.tar project/config.ini

$ tar -tvf perm.tar
-rw------- root/root       123 2026-10-15 18:46 project/config.ini

$ tar -tvf perm.tar --numeric-owner
-rw------- 0/0             123 2026-10-15 18:46 project/config.ini

$ rm -rf ex-perm && mkdir ex-perm

$ tar -xf perm.tar -C ex-perm

$ ls -l ex-perm/project/config.ini
-rw------- 1 root root 123 Oct 15 18:46 ex-perm/project/config.ini

$ tar --same-owner -xf perm.tar -C ex-perm

$ tar -xpf perm.tar -C ex-perm

$ ls -l ex-perm/project/config.ini
-rw------- 1 root root 123 Oct 15 18:46 ex-perm/project/config.ini

$ tar -cf o.tar project/config.ini

$ tar -xf o.tar -O; echo rc=$?
[server]
host = 127.0.0.1
port = 8080
timeout = 30

[log]
level = info
file = /var/log/demo.log
# appended for tar -d test
rc=0

$ rm -f o.tar

$ ln -s project/config.ini cfg-link

$ tar -cf link.tar cfg-link

$ tar -tvf link.tar
lrwxrwxrwx root/root         0 2026-10-15 18:57 cfg-link -> project/config.ini

$ tar -chf deref.tar cfg-link

$ tar -tvf deref.tar
-rw-r--r-- root/root       123 2026-10-15 18:46 cfg-link

$ rm -f link.tar deref.tar cfg-link

$ rm -f cp.tar

$ tar -cf cp.tar --checkpoint=100 project
tar: Write checkpoint 100
tar: Write checkpoint 200

$ tar -cf totals.tar --totals project/config.ini project/Makefile
Total bytes written: 10240 (10KiB, 96MiB/s)

$ rm -f totals.tar

$ rm -rf dest && mkdir dest

$ tar -C /root/demo/tar/project -cf - . | (cd /root/demo/tar/dest && tar -xf -)

$ diff -r project dest; echo rc=$?
rc=0

$ ls dest
Makefile
config.ini
docs
src

$ rm -rf ex-k && mkdir ex-k

$ tar -xf demo.tar -C ex-k

$ echo modified > ex-k/project/config.ini

$ tar -xfk demo.tar -C ex-k; echo rc=$?
tar: k: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
rc=2

$ tar -xkf demo.tar -C ex-k; echo rc=$?
tar: project/src/util.py: Cannot open: File exists
tar: project/src/main.c: Cannot open: File exists
tar: project/src/access.log: Cannot open: File exists
tar: project/config.ini: Cannot open: File exists
tar: project/Makefile: Cannot open: File exists
tar: project/docs/readme.md: Cannot open: File exists
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
rc=2

$ tar -xf demo.tar -C ex-k --overwrite; echo rc=$?
rc=0

$ cat ex-k/project/config.ini
[server]
host = 127.0.0.1
port = 8080
timeout = 30

[log]
level = info
file = /var/log/demo.log

$ head -c 4096 demo.tar > broken.tar

$ tar -tf broken.tar; echo rc=$?
project/
project/src/
project/src/util.py
project/src/main.c
project/src/access.log
tar: rmtlseek not stopped at a record boundary
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
rc=2

$ rm -rf ex-bad && mkdir ex-bad

$ tar -xf broken.tar -C ex-bad; echo rc=$?
tar: Unexpected EOF in archive
tar: rmtlseek not stopped at a record boundary
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
rc=2