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Reading Names from a File

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Instead of giving the names of files or archive members on the command line, you can put the names into a file, and then use the `--files-from=file-of-names' (`-T file-of-names') option to tar. Give the name of the file which contains the list as the argument to `--files-from=file-of-names' (`-T file-of-names'). The file names should be separated by newlines in the list. If you give a single dash as a file name for `--files-from=file-of-names' (`-T file-of-names'), that is, you specify `--files-from=-' (`-T -'), then the file names are read from standard input.

If you want to specify names that might contain newlines, use the `--null' option. Then, the file names should be separated by NUL characters (ASCII 000) instead of newlines. In addition, the `--null' option turns off the `--directory=directory' (`-C directory') option (

FIXME: pxref Changing Directory

Reading a List of File Names from a File

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To read file names from a file on the file system, instead of from the command line, use the `--files-from=file-of-names' (`-T file-of-names') option. If you specify `-' as file, the file names are read from standard input. Note that using both `--files-from=-' (`-T -') and `--file=-' (`-f -') in the same command will not work unless the operation is `--create' (`-c').

FIXME: xref Archive Name

`--files-from=file'

`-T file'

Reads file name arguments from a file on the file system, instead of from the command line. Use in conjunction with any operation.

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