$ mkdir a $ cd a $ touch a_file $ mkdir b $ cd b $ touch b_file $ tar cvf /tmp/abc.tar b_file ../a_file $ tar cvf /tmp/abc.tar b_file ../a_file b_file tar: Member names contain `..' ../a_file $ tar tvf /tmp/abc.tar -rw-r--r-- mike/mike 0 2002-04-03 06:48:08 b_file -rw-r--r-- mike/mike 0 2002-04-03 06:48:02 ../a_file $ rm b_file ../a_file $ tar xvf /tmp/abc.tar b_file ../a_file tar: ../a_file: Member name contains `..' tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors $ ls . .. .: b_file ..: b