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<div class="section" id="module-tarfile">
<span id="tarfile-read-and-write-tar-archive-files"></span><h1>12.5. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-tarfile" title="tarfile: Read and write tar-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code></a> — Read and write tar archive files<a class="headerlink" href="#module-tarfile" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.3.</span></p>
</div>
<p><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/tree/2.7/Lib/tarfile.py">Lib/tarfile.py</a></p>
<hr class="docutils" />
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-tarfile" title="tarfile: Read and write tar-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code></a> module makes it possible to read and write tar
archives, including those using gzip or bz2 compression.
Use the <a class="reference internal" href="zipfile.html#module-zipfile" title="zipfile: Read and write ZIP-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">zipfile</span></code></a> module to read or write <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.zip</span></code> files, or the
higher-level functions in <a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#archiving-operations"><span class="std std-ref">shutil</span></a>.</p>
<p>Some facts and figures:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>reads and writes <a class="reference internal" href="gzip.html#module-gzip" title="gzip: Interfaces for gzip compression and decompression using file objects."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gzip</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="bz2.html#module-bz2" title="bz2: Interface to compression and decompression routines compatible with bzip2."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bz2</span></code></a> compressed archives
if the respective modules are available.</p></li>
<li><p>read/write support for the POSIX.1-1988 (ustar) format.</p></li>
<li><p>read/write support for the GNU tar format including <em>longname</em> and <em>longlink</em>
extensions, read-only support for the <em>sparse</em> extension.</p></li>
<li><p>read/write support for the POSIX.1-2001 (pax) format.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
</li>
<li><p>handles directories, regular files, hardlinks, symbolic links, fifos,
character devices and block devices and is able to acquire and restore file
information like timestamp, access permissions and owner.</p></li>
</ul>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>Handling of multi-stream bzip2 files is not supported. Modules such as
<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/nvawda/bz2file">bz2file</a> let you overcome this.</p>
</div>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="tarfile.open">
<code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">open</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name=None</em>, <em>mode='r'</em>, <em>fileobj=None</em>, <em>bufsize=10240</em>, <em>**kwargs</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.open" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> object for the pathname <em>name</em>. For detailed
information on <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> objects and the keyword arguments that are
allowed, see <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile-objects"><span class="std std-ref">TarFile Objects</span></a>.</p>
<p><em>mode</em> has to be a string of the form <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'filemode[:compression]'</span></code>, it defaults
to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r'</span></code>. Here is a full list of mode combinations:</p>
<table class="docutils align-center">
<colgroup>
<col style="width: 29%" />
<col style="width: 71%" />
</colgroup>
<thead>
<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>mode</p></th>
<th class="head"><p>action</p></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r'</span> <span class="pre">or</span> <span class="pre">'r:*'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open for reading with transparent
compression (recommended).</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r:'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open for reading exclusively without
compression.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r:gz'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open for reading with gzip compression.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r:bz2'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open for reading with bzip2 compression.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'a'</span> <span class="pre">or</span> <span class="pre">'a:'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open for appending with no compression. The
file is created if it does not exist.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w'</span> <span class="pre">or</span> <span class="pre">'w:'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open for uncompressed writing.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w:gz'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open for gzip compressed writing.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w:bz2'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open for bzip2 compressed writing.</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Note that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'a:gz'</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'a:bz2'</span></code> is not possible. If <em>mode</em> is not suitable
to open a certain (compressed) file for reading, <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.ReadError" title="tarfile.ReadError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ReadError</span></code></a> is raised. Use
<em>mode</em> <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r'</span></code> to avoid this. If a compression method is not supported,
<a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.CompressionError" title="tarfile.CompressionError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CompressionError</span></code></a> is raised.</p>
<p>If <em>fileobj</em> is specified, it is used as an alternative to a file object opened
for <em>name</em>. It is supposed to be at position 0.</p>
<p>For modes <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w:gz'</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r:gz'</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w:bz2'</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r:bz2'</span></code>, <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.open" title="tarfile.open"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile.open()</span></code></a>
accepts the keyword argument <em>compresslevel</em> (default <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">9</span></code>) to
specify the compression level of the file.</p>
<p>For special purposes, there is a second format for <em>mode</em>:
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'filemode|[compression]'</span></code>. <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.open" title="tarfile.open"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile.open()</span></code></a> will return a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a>
object that processes its data as a stream of blocks. No random seeking will
be done on the file. If given, <em>fileobj</em> may be any object that has a
<code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">read()</span></code> or <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">write()</span></code> method (depending on the <em>mode</em>). <em>bufsize</em>
specifies the blocksize and defaults to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">20</span> <span class="pre">*</span> <span class="pre">512</span></code> bytes. Use this variant
in combination with e.g. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.stdin</span></code>, a socket file object or a tape
device. However, such a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> object is limited in that it does
not allow random access, see <a class="reference internal" href="#tar-examples"><span class="std std-ref">Examples</span></a>. The currently
possible modes:</p>
<table class="docutils align-center">
<colgroup>
<col style="width: 23%" />
<col style="width: 77%" />
</colgroup>
<thead>
<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>Mode</p></th>
<th class="head"><p>Action</p></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r|*'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open a <em>stream</em> of tar blocks for reading
with transparent compression.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r|'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open a <em>stream</em> of uncompressed tar blocks
for reading.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r|gz'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open a gzip compressed <em>stream</em> for
reading.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r|bz2'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open a bzip2 compressed <em>stream</em> for
reading.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w|'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open an uncompressed <em>stream</em> for writing.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w|gz'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open a gzip compressed <em>stream</em> for
writing.</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w|bz2'</span></code></p></td>
<td><p>Open a bzip2 compressed <em>stream</em> for
writing.</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile">
<em class="property">class </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">TarFile</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Class for reading and writing tar archives. Do not use this class directly,
better use <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.open" title="tarfile.open"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile.open()</span></code></a> instead. See <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile-objects"><span class="std std-ref">TarFile Objects</span></a>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="tarfile.is_tarfile">
<code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">is_tarfile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.is_tarfile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if <em>name</em> is a tar archive file, that the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-tarfile" title="tarfile: Read and write tar-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code></a>
module can read.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFileCompat">
<em class="property">class </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">TarFileCompat</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>filename</em>, <em>mode='r'</em>, <em>compression=TAR_PLAIN</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFileCompat" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Class for limited access to tar archives with a <a class="reference internal" href="zipfile.html#module-zipfile" title="zipfile: Read and write ZIP-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">zipfile</span></code></a>-like interface.
Please consult the documentation of the <a class="reference internal" href="zipfile.html#module-zipfile" title="zipfile: Read and write ZIP-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">zipfile</span></code></a> module for more details.
<em>compression</em> must be one of the following constants:</p>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFileCompat.TAR_PLAIN">
<code class="descname">TAR_PLAIN</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFileCompat.TAR_PLAIN" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Constant for an uncompressed tar archive.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFileCompat.TAR_GZIPPED">
<code class="descname">TAR_GZIPPED</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFileCompat.TAR_GZIPPED" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Constant for a <a class="reference internal" href="gzip.html#module-gzip" title="gzip: Interfaces for gzip compression and decompression using file objects."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gzip</span></code></a> compressed tar archive.</p>
</dd></dl>
<div class="deprecated">
<p><span class="versionmodified deprecated">Deprecated since version 2.6: </span>The <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFileCompat" title="tarfile.TarFileCompat"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFileCompat</span></code></a> class has been removed in Python 3.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="exception">
<dt id="tarfile.TarError">
<em class="property">exception </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">TarError</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Base class for all <a class="reference internal" href="#module-tarfile" title="tarfile: Read and write tar-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code></a> exceptions.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="exception">
<dt id="tarfile.ReadError">
<em class="property">exception </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">ReadError</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.ReadError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Is raised when a tar archive is opened, that either cannot be handled by the
<a class="reference internal" href="#module-tarfile" title="tarfile: Read and write tar-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code></a> module or is somehow invalid.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="exception">
<dt id="tarfile.CompressionError">
<em class="property">exception </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">CompressionError</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.CompressionError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Is raised when a compression method is not supported or when the data cannot be
decoded properly.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="exception">
<dt id="tarfile.StreamError">
<em class="property">exception </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">StreamError</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.StreamError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Is raised for the limitations that are typical for stream-like <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a>
objects.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="exception">
<dt id="tarfile.ExtractError">
<em class="property">exception </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">ExtractError</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.ExtractError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Is raised for <em>non-fatal</em> errors when using <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extract" title="tarfile.TarFile.extract"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile.extract()</span></code></a>, but only if
<code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile.errorlevel</span></code><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">==</span> <span class="pre">2</span></code>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<p>The following constants are available at the module level:</p>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="tarfile.ENCODING">
<code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">ENCODING</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.ENCODING" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The default character encoding: <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'utf-8'</span></code> on Windows, the value returned by
<a class="reference internal" href="sys.html#sys.getfilesystemencoding" title="sys.getfilesystemencoding"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.getfilesystemencoding()</span></code></a> otherwise.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="exception">
<dt id="tarfile.HeaderError">
<em class="property">exception </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">HeaderError</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.HeaderError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Is raised by <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.frombuf" title="tarfile.TarInfo.frombuf"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo.frombuf()</span></code></a> if the buffer it gets is invalid.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<p>Each of the following constants defines a tar archive format that the
<a class="reference internal" href="#module-tarfile" title="tarfile: Read and write tar-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code></a> module is able to create. See section <a class="reference internal" href="#tar-formats"><span class="std std-ref">Supported tar formats</span></a> for
details.</p>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="tarfile.USTAR_FORMAT">
<code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">USTAR_FORMAT</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.USTAR_FORMAT" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>POSIX.1-1988 (ustar) format.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="tarfile.GNU_FORMAT">
<code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">GNU_FORMAT</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.GNU_FORMAT" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>GNU tar format.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="tarfile.PAX_FORMAT">
<code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">PAX_FORMAT</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.PAX_FORMAT" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>POSIX.1-2001 (pax) format.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="tarfile.DEFAULT_FORMAT">
<code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">DEFAULT_FORMAT</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.DEFAULT_FORMAT" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The default format for creating archives. This is currently <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.GNU_FORMAT" title="tarfile.GNU_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GNU_FORMAT</span></code></a>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<dl class="simple">
<dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="zipfile.html#module-zipfile" title="zipfile: Read and write ZIP-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">zipfile</span></code></a></dt><dd><p>Documentation of the <a class="reference internal" href="zipfile.html#module-zipfile" title="zipfile: Read and write ZIP-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">zipfile</span></code></a> standard module.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#archiving-operations"><span class="std std-ref">Archiving operations</span></a></dt><dd><p>Documentation of the higher-level archiving facilities provided by the
standard <a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#module-shutil" title="shutil: High-level file operations, including copying."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">shutil</span></code></a> module.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a class="reference external" href="https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/Standard.html">GNU tar manual, Basic Tar Format</a></dt><dd><p>Documentation for tar archive files, including GNU tar extensions.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<div class="section" id="tarfile-objects">
<span id="id1"></span><h2>12.5.1. TarFile Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> object provides an interface to a tar archive. A tar
archive is a sequence of blocks. An archive member (a stored file) is made up of
a header block followed by data blocks. It is possible to store a file in a tar
archive several times. Each archive member is represented by a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a>
object, see <a class="reference internal" href="#tarinfo-objects"><span class="std std-ref">TarInfo Objects</span></a> for details.</p>
<p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> object can be used as a context manager in a <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/compound_stmts.html#with"><code class="xref std std-keyword docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">with</span></code></a>
statement. It will automatically be closed when the block is completed. Please
note that in the event of an exception an archive opened for writing will not
be finalized; only the internally used file object will be closed. See the
<a class="reference internal" href="#tar-examples"><span class="std std-ref">Examples</span></a> section for a use case.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.7: </span>Added support for the context management protocol.</p>
</div>
<dl class="class">
<dt>
<em class="property">class </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">TarFile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name=None</em>, <em>mode='r'</em>, <em>fileobj=None</em>, <em>format=DEFAULT_FORMAT</em>, <em>tarinfo=TarInfo</em>, <em>dereference=False</em>, <em>ignore_zeros=False</em>, <em>encoding=ENCODING</em>, <em>errors=None</em>, <em>pax_headers=None</em>, <em>debug=0</em>, <em>errorlevel=0</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span></dt>
<dd><p>All following arguments are optional and can be accessed as instance attributes
as well.</p>
<p><em>name</em> is the pathname of the archive. It can be omitted if <em>fileobj</em> is given.
In this case, the file object’s <code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">name</span></code> attribute is used if it exists.</p>
<p><em>mode</em> is either <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'r'</span></code> to read from an existing archive, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'a'</span></code> to append
data to an existing file or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w'</span></code> to create a new file overwriting an existing
one.</p>
<p>If <em>fileobj</em> is given, it is used for reading or writing data. If it can be
determined, <em>mode</em> is overridden by <em>fileobj</em>’s mode. <em>fileobj</em> will be used
from position 0.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p><em>fileobj</em> is not closed, when <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> is closed.</p>
</div>
<p><em>format</em> controls the archive format. It must be one of the constants
<a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.USTAR_FORMAT" title="tarfile.USTAR_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">USTAR_FORMAT</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.GNU_FORMAT" title="tarfile.GNU_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GNU_FORMAT</span></code></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.PAX_FORMAT" title="tarfile.PAX_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PAX_FORMAT</span></code></a> that are
defined at module level.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
<p>The <em>tarinfo</em> argument can be used to replace the default <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> class
with a different one.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
<p>If <em>dereference</em> is <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">False</span></code></a>, add symbolic and hard links to the archive. If it
is <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a>, add the content of the target files to the archive. This has no
effect on systems that do not support symbolic links.</p>
<p>If <em>ignore_zeros</em> is <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">False</span></code></a>, treat an empty block as the end of the archive.
If it is <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a>, skip empty (and invalid) blocks and try to get as many members
as possible. This is only useful for reading concatenated or damaged archives.</p>
<p><em>debug</em> can be set from <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">0</span></code> (no debug messages) up to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">3</span></code> (all debug
messages). The messages are written to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.stderr</span></code>.</p>
<p>If <em>errorlevel</em> is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">0</span></code>, all errors are ignored when using <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extract" title="tarfile.TarFile.extract"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile.extract()</span></code></a>.
Nevertheless, they appear as error messages in the debug output, when debugging
is enabled. If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">1</span></code>, all <em>fatal</em> errors are raised as <a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.OSError" title="exceptions.OSError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">OSError</span></code></a> or
<a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.IOError" title="exceptions.IOError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">IOError</span></code></a> exceptions. If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">2</span></code>, all <em>non-fatal</em> errors are raised as
<a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarError" title="tarfile.TarError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarError</span></code></a> exceptions as well.</p>
<p>The <em>encoding</em> and <em>errors</em> arguments control the way strings are converted to
unicode objects and vice versa. The default settings will work for most users.
See section <a class="reference internal" href="#tar-unicode"><span class="std std-ref">Unicode issues</span></a> for in-depth information.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
<p>The <em>pax_headers</em> argument is an optional dictionary of unicode strings which
will be added as a pax global header if <em>format</em> is <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.PAX_FORMAT" title="tarfile.PAX_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PAX_FORMAT</span></code></a>.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="classmethod">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.open">
<em class="property">classmethod </em><code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">open</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>...</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.open" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Alternative constructor. The <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.open" title="tarfile.open"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile.open()</span></code></a> function is actually a
shortcut to this classmethod.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.getmember">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">getmember</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.getmember" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object for member <em>name</em>. If <em>name</em> can not be found
in the archive, <a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.KeyError" title="exceptions.KeyError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">KeyError</span></code></a> is raised.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>If a member occurs more than once in the archive, its last occurrence is assumed
to be the most up-to-date version.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.getmembers">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">getmembers</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.getmembers" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return the members of the archive as a list of <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> objects. The
list has the same order as the members in the archive.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.getnames">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">getnames</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.getnames" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return the members as a list of their names. It has the same order as the list
returned by <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.getmembers" title="tarfile.TarFile.getmembers"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">getmembers()</span></code></a>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.list">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">list</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>verbose=True</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.list" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Print a table of contents to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.stdout</span></code>. If <em>verbose</em> is <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">False</span></code></a>,
only the names of the members are printed. If it is <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a>, output
similar to that of <strong class="program">ls -l</strong> is produced.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.next">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">next</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.next" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return the next member of the archive as a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object, when
<a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> is opened for reading. Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#None" title="None"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code></a> if there is no more
available.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.extractall">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">extractall</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>path="."</em>, <em>members=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extractall" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Extract all members from the archive to the current working directory or
directory <em>path</em>. If optional <em>members</em> is given, it must be a subset of the
list returned by <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.getmembers" title="tarfile.TarFile.getmembers"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">getmembers()</span></code></a>. Directory information like owner,
modification time and permissions are set after all members have been extracted.
This is done to work around two problems: A directory’s modification time is
reset each time a file is created in it. And, if a directory’s permissions do
not allow writing, extracting files to it will fail.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p>Never extract archives from untrusted sources without prior inspection.
It is possible that files are created outside of <em>path</em>, e.g. members
that have absolute filenames starting with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">"/"</span></code> or filenames with two
dots <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">".."</span></code>.</p>
</div>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.5.</span></p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.extract">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">extract</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>member</em>, <em>path=""</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extract" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Extract a member from the archive to the current working directory, using its
full name. Its file information is extracted as accurately as possible. <em>member</em>
may be a filename or a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object. You can specify a different
directory using <em>path</em>.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extract" title="tarfile.TarFile.extract"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">extract()</span></code></a> method does not take care of several extraction issues.
In most cases you should consider using the <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extractall" title="tarfile.TarFile.extractall"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">extractall()</span></code></a> method.</p>
</div>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p>See the warning for <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extractall" title="tarfile.TarFile.extractall"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">extractall()</span></code></a>.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.extractfile">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">extractfile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>member</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extractfile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Extract a member from the archive as a file object. <em>member</em> may be a filename
or a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object. If <em>member</em> is a regular file, a file-like object
is returned. If <em>member</em> is a link, a file-like object is constructed from the
link’s target. If <em>member</em> is none of the above, <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#None" title="None"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code></a> is returned.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>The file-like object is read-only. It provides the methods
<code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">read()</span></code>, <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readline()</span></code></a>, <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">readlines()</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">seek()</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tell()</span></code>,
and <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.close" title="tarfile.TarFile.close"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">close()</span></code></a>, and also supports iteration over its lines.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.add">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">add</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em>, <em>arcname=None</em>, <em>recursive=True</em>, <em>exclude=None</em>, <em>filter=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.add" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Add the file <em>name</em> to the archive. <em>name</em> may be any type of file (directory,
fifo, symbolic link, etc.). If given, <em>arcname</em> specifies an alternative name
for the file in the archive. Directories are added recursively by default. This
can be avoided by setting <em>recursive</em> to <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">False</span></code></a>. If <em>exclude</em> is given
it must be a function that takes one filename argument and returns a boolean
value. Depending on this value the respective file is either excluded
(<a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a>) or added (<a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">False</span></code></a>). If <em>filter</em> is specified it must
be a function that takes a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object argument and returns the
changed <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object. If it instead returns <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#None" title="None"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code></a> the <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a>
object will be excluded from the archive. See <a class="reference internal" href="#tar-examples"><span class="std std-ref">Examples</span></a> for an
example.</p>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 2.6: </span>Added the <em>exclude</em> parameter.</p>
</div>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 2.7: </span>Added the <em>filter</em> parameter.</p>
</div>
<div class="deprecated">
<p><span class="versionmodified deprecated">Deprecated since version 2.7: </span>The <em>exclude</em> parameter is deprecated, please use the <em>filter</em> parameter
instead. For maximum portability, <em>filter</em> should be used as a keyword
argument rather than as a positional argument so that code won’t be
affected when <em>exclude</em> is ultimately removed.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.addfile">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">addfile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>tarinfo</em>, <em>fileobj=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.addfile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Add the <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object <em>tarinfo</em> to the archive. If <em>fileobj</em> is given,
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarinfo.size</span></code> bytes are read from it and added to the archive. You can
create <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> objects directly, or by using <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.gettarinfo" title="tarfile.TarFile.gettarinfo"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettarinfo()</span></code></a>.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>On Windows platforms, <em>fileobj</em> should always be opened with mode <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'rb'</span></code> to
avoid irritation about the file size.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.gettarinfo">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">gettarinfo</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name=None</em>, <em>arcname=None</em>, <em>fileobj=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.gettarinfo" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Create a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object from the result of <a class="reference internal" href="os.html#os.stat" title="os.stat"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os.stat()</span></code></a> or
equivalent on an existing file. The file is either named by <em>name</em>, or
specified as a file object <em>fileobj</em> with a file descriptor. If
given, <em>arcname</em> specifies an alternative name for the file in the
archive, otherwise, the name is taken from <em>fileobj</em>’s
<a class="reference internal" href="stdtypes.html#file.name" title="file.name"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">name</span></code></a> attribute, or the <em>name</em> argument.</p>
<p>You can modify some
of the <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a>’s attributes before you add it using <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.addfile" title="tarfile.TarFile.addfile"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">addfile()</span></code></a>.
If the file object is not an ordinary file object positioned at the
beginning of the file, attributes such as <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.size" title="tarfile.TarInfo.size"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">size</span></code></a> may need
modifying. This is the case for objects such as <a class="reference internal" href="gzip.html#gzip.GzipFile" title="gzip.GzipFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GzipFile</span></code></a>.
The <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.name" title="tarfile.TarInfo.name"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">name</span></code></a> may also be modified, in which case <em>arcname</em>
could be a dummy string.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.close">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">close</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.close" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Close the <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a>. In write mode, two finishing zero blocks are
appended to the archive.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.posix">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">posix</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.posix" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Setting this to <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> is equivalent to setting the <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#format" title="format"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">format</span></code></a>
attribute to <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.USTAR_FORMAT" title="tarfile.USTAR_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">USTAR_FORMAT</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">False</span></code></a> is equivalent to
<a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.GNU_FORMAT" title="tarfile.GNU_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GNU_FORMAT</span></code></a>.</p>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 2.4: </span><em>posix</em> defaults to <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">False</span></code></a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="deprecated">
<p><span class="versionmodified deprecated">Deprecated since version 2.6: </span>Use the <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#format" title="format"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">format</span></code></a> attribute instead.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarFile.pax_headers">
<code class="descclassname">TarFile.</code><code class="descname">pax_headers</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarFile.pax_headers" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A dictionary containing key-value pairs of pax global headers.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
</div>
<div class="section" id="tarinfo-objects">
<span id="id2"></span><h2>12.5.2. TarInfo Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#tarinfo-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object represents one member in a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a>. Aside
from storing all required attributes of a file (like file type, size, time,
permissions, owner etc.), it provides some useful methods to determine its type.
It does <em>not</em> contain the file’s data itself.</p>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> objects are returned by <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a>’s methods
<code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">getmember()</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">getmembers()</span></code> and <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettarinfo()</span></code>.</p>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo">
<em class="property">class </em><code class="descclassname">tarfile.</code><code class="descname">TarInfo</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name=""</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Create a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.frombuf">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">frombuf</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>buf</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.frombuf" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Create and return a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object from string buffer <em>buf</em>.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6: </span>Raises <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.HeaderError" title="tarfile.HeaderError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">HeaderError</span></code></a> if the buffer is invalid..</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.fromtarfile">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">fromtarfile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>tarfile</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.fromtarfile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Read the next member from the <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> object <em>tarfile</em> and return it as
a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.tobuf">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">tobuf</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>format=DEFAULT_FORMAT</em>, <em>encoding=ENCODING</em>, <em>errors='strict'</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.tobuf" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Create a string buffer from a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object. For information on the
arguments see the constructor of the <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> class.</p>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 2.6: </span>The arguments were added.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<p>A <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code> object has the following public data attributes:</p>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.name">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">name</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.name" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Name of the archive member.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.size">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">size</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.size" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Size in bytes.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.mtime">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">mtime</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.mtime" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Time of last modification.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.mode">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">mode</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.mode" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Permission bits.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.type">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">type</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.type" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>File type. <em>type</em> is usually one of these constants: <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">REGTYPE</span></code>,
<code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">AREGTYPE</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">LNKTYPE</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SYMTYPE</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">DIRTYPE</span></code>,
<code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FIFOTYPE</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CONTTYPE</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CHRTYPE</span></code>, <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">BLKTYPE</span></code>,
<code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GNUTYPE_SPARSE</span></code>. To determine the type of a <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object
more conveniently, use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">is*()</span></code> methods below.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.linkname">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">linkname</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.linkname" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Name of the target file name, which is only present in <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> objects
of type <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">LNKTYPE</span></code> and <code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SYMTYPE</span></code>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.uid">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">uid</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.uid" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>User ID of the user who originally stored this member.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.gid">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">gid</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.gid" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Group ID of the user who originally stored this member.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.uname">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">uname</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.uname" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>User name.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.gname">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">gname</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.gname" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Group name.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.pax_headers">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">pax_headers</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.pax_headers" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A dictionary containing key-value pairs of an associated pax extended header.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.6.</span></p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo" title="tarfile.TarInfo"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarInfo</span></code></a> object also provides some convenient query methods:</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.isfile">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">isfile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.isfile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if the <code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Tarinfo</span></code> object is a regular file.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.isreg">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">isreg</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.isreg" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Same as <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.isfile" title="tarfile.TarInfo.isfile"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">isfile()</span></code></a>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.isdir">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">isdir</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.isdir" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if it is a directory.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.issym">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">issym</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.issym" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if it is a symbolic link.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.islnk">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">islnk</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.islnk" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if it is a hard link.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.ischr">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">ischr</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.ischr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if it is a character device.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.isblk">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">isblk</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.isblk" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if it is a block device.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.isfifo">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">isfifo</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.isfifo" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if it is a FIFO.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="tarfile.TarInfo.isdev">
<code class="descclassname">TarInfo.</code><code class="descname">isdev</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tarfile.TarInfo.isdev" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code></a> if it is one of character device, block device or FIFO.</p>
</dd></dl>
</div>
<div class="section" id="examples">
<span id="tar-examples"></span><h2>12.5.3. Examples<a class="headerlink" href="#examples" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>How to extract an entire tar archive to the current working directory:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">tarfile</span>
<span class="n">tar</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">tarfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"sample.tar.gz"</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">extractall</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>How to extract a subset of a tar archive with <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.extractall" title="tarfile.TarFile.extractall"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile.extractall()</span></code></a> using
a generator function instead of a list:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">os</span>
<span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">tarfile</span>
<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">py_files</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">members</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">members</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">os</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">path</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">splitext</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">name</span><span class="p">)[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">==</span> <span class="s2">".py"</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="k">yield</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span>
<span class="n">tar</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">tarfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"sample.tar.gz"</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">extractall</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">members</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">py_files</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">tar</span><span class="p">))</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>How to create an uncompressed tar archive from a list of filenames:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">tarfile</span>
<span class="n">tar</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">tarfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"sample.tar"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"w"</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">name</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="s2">"foo"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"bar"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"quux"</span><span class="p">]:</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">add</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">name</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The same example using the <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/compound_stmts.html#with"><code class="xref std std-keyword docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">with</span></code></a> statement:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">tarfile</span>
<span class="k">with</span> <span class="n">tarfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"sample.tar"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"w"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="n">tar</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">name</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="s2">"foo"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"bar"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"quux"</span><span class="p">]:</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">add</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">name</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>How to read a gzip compressed tar archive and display some member information:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">tarfile</span>
<span class="n">tar</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">tarfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"sample.tar.gz"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"r:gz"</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">tar</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="nb">print</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">name</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"is"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"bytes in size and is"</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">isreg</span><span class="p">():</span>
<span class="nb">print</span> <span class="s2">"a regular file."</span>
<span class="k">elif</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">isdir</span><span class="p">():</span>
<span class="nb">print</span> <span class="s2">"a directory."</span>
<span class="k">else</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="nb">print</span> <span class="s2">"something else."</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>How to create an archive and reset the user information using the <em>filter</em>
parameter in <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile.add" title="tarfile.TarFile.add"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile.add()</span></code></a>:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">tarfile</span>
<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">reset</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">uid</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">gid</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">0</span>
<span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">uname</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">gname</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s2">"root"</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">tarinfo</span>
<span class="n">tar</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">tarfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"sample.tar.gz"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"w:gz"</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">add</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"foo"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="nb">filter</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">reset</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">tar</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="supported-tar-formats">
<span id="tar-formats"></span><h2>12.5.4. Supported tar formats<a class="headerlink" href="#supported-tar-formats" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>There are three tar formats that can be created with the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-tarfile" title="tarfile: Read and write tar-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code></a> module:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The POSIX.1-1988 ustar format (<a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.USTAR_FORMAT" title="tarfile.USTAR_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">USTAR_FORMAT</span></code></a>). It supports filenames
up to a length of at best 256 characters and linknames up to 100 characters. The
maximum file size is 8 gigabytes. This is an old and limited but widely
supported format.</p></li>
<li><p>The GNU tar format (<a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.GNU_FORMAT" title="tarfile.GNU_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GNU_FORMAT</span></code></a>). It supports long filenames and
linknames, files bigger than 8 gigabytes and sparse files. It is the de facto
standard on GNU/Linux systems. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-tarfile" title="tarfile: Read and write tar-format archive files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code></a> fully supports the GNU tar
extensions for long names, sparse file support is read-only.</p></li>
<li><p>The POSIX.1-2001 pax format (<a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.PAX_FORMAT" title="tarfile.PAX_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PAX_FORMAT</span></code></a>). It is the most flexible
format with virtually no limits. It supports long filenames and linknames, large
files and stores pathnames in a portable way. However, not all tar
implementations today are able to handle pax archives properly.</p>
<p>The <em>pax</em> format is an extension to the existing <em>ustar</em> format. It uses extra
headers for information that cannot be stored otherwise. There are two flavours
of pax headers: Extended headers only affect the subsequent file header, global
headers are valid for the complete archive and affect all following files. All
the data in a pax header is encoded in <em>UTF-8</em> for portability reasons.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>There are some more variants of the tar format which can be read, but not
created:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>The ancient V7 format. This is the first tar format from Unix Seventh Edition,
storing only regular files and directories. Names must not be longer than 100
characters, there is no user/group name information. Some archives have
miscalculated header checksums in case of fields with non-ASCII characters.</p></li>
<li><p>The SunOS tar extended format. This format is a variant of the POSIX.1-2001
pax format, but is not compatible.</p></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="unicode-issues">
<span id="tar-unicode"></span><h2>12.5.5. Unicode issues<a class="headerlink" href="#unicode-issues" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The tar format was originally conceived to make backups on tape drives with the
main focus on preserving file system information. Nowadays tar archives are
commonly used for file distribution and exchanging archives over networks. One
problem of the original format (that all other formats are merely variants of)
is that there is no concept of supporting different character encodings. For
example, an ordinary tar archive created on a <em>UTF-8</em> system cannot be read
correctly on a <em>Latin-1</em> system if it contains non-ASCII characters. Names (i.e.
filenames, linknames, user/group names) containing these characters will appear
damaged. Unfortunately, there is no way to autodetect the encoding of an
archive.</p>
<p>The pax format was designed to solve this problem. It stores non-ASCII names
using the universal character encoding <em>UTF-8</em>. When a pax archive is read,
these <em>UTF-8</em> names are converted to the encoding of the local file system.</p>
<p>The details of unicode conversion are controlled by the <em>encoding</em> and <em>errors</em>
keyword arguments of the <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.TarFile" title="tarfile.TarFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TarFile</span></code></a> class.</p>
<p>The default value for <em>encoding</em> is the local character encoding. It is deduced
from <a class="reference internal" href="sys.html#sys.getfilesystemencoding" title="sys.getfilesystemencoding"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.getfilesystemencoding()</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="sys.html#sys.getdefaultencoding" title="sys.getdefaultencoding"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.getdefaultencoding()</span></code></a>. In
read mode, <em>encoding</em> is used exclusively to convert unicode names from a pax
archive to strings in the local character encoding. In write mode, the use of
<em>encoding</em> depends on the chosen archive format. In case of <a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile.PAX_FORMAT" title="tarfile.PAX_FORMAT"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PAX_FORMAT</span></code></a>,
input names that contain non-ASCII characters need to be decoded before being
stored as <em>UTF-8</em> strings. The other formats do not make use of <em>encoding</em>
unless unicode objects are used as input names. These are converted to 8-bit
character strings before they are added to the archive.</p>
<p>The <em>errors</em> argument defines how characters are treated that cannot be
converted to or from <em>encoding</em>. Possible values are listed in section
<a class="reference internal" href="codecs.html#codec-base-classes"><span class="std std-ref">Codec Base Classes</span></a>. In read mode, there is an additional scheme
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'utf-8'</span></code> which means that bad characters are replaced by their <em>UTF-8</em>
representation. This is the default scheme. In write mode the default value for
<em>errors</em> is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'strict'</span></code> to ensure that name information is not altered
unnoticed.</p>
</div>
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<h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">12.5. <code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></code> — Read and write tar archive files</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#tarfile-objects">12.5.1. TarFile Objects</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#tarinfo-objects">12.5.2. TarInfo Objects</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#examples">12.5.3. Examples</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#supported-tar-formats">12.5.4. Supported tar formats</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#unicode-issues">12.5.5. Unicode issues</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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