tar.info: file tutorial

Two Frequent Options

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The `--file' Option
-------------------

`--file=ARCHIVE-NAME'
`-f ARCHIVE-NAME'
     Specify the name of an archive file.

   You can specify an argument for the `--file=ARCHIVE-NAME' (`-f
ARCHIVE-NAME') option whenever you use `tar'; this option determines
the name of the archive file that `tar' will work on.

   If you don't specify this argument, then `tar' will examine the
environment variable `TAPE'.  If it is set, its value will be used as
the archive name.  Otherwise, `tar' will use the default archive,
determined at compile time. Usually it is standard output or some
physical tape drive attached to your machine (you can verify what the
default is by running `tar --show-defaults', Note: defaults).  If
there is no tape drive attached, or the default is not meaningful, then
`tar' will print an error message.  The error message might look
roughly like one of the following:

     tar: can't open /dev/rmt8 : No such device or address
     tar: can't open /dev/rsmt0 : I/O error

To avoid confusion, we recommend that you always specify an archive file
name by using `--file=ARCHIVE-NAME' (`-f ARCHIVE-NAME') when writing
your `tar' commands.  For more information on using the
`--file=ARCHIVE-NAME' (`-f ARCHIVE-NAME') option, see Note: file.