tar command

tar - an archiving utility

GNU 'tar' saves many files together into a single tape or disk archive ( generally called as tarball), and can restore individual files from the archive and can optionally compress them.

Usage: tar [OPTION]... [FILE]...

• OPTION: Flags which enhances the tar abilities. (e.g., create, extract, compress).
• FILE: The files or directories to include or extract from the tarball.

Examples

• Creating an Archive

  To bundle files into an archive, use -c (create) and -f (file) options.

  $ tar -cf archive.tar file1.txt file2.txt
  • Creates archive.tar containing file1.txt and file2.txt.
  • -c: Create a new archive.
  • -f: Specify the archive file name.

• Adding Compression

  Combine -c with a compression flag:

  Gzip Example:

  • -z: Gzip (.tar.gz)
  • -j: Bzip2 (.tar.bz2)
  • -J: Xz (.tar.xz)

  $ tar -czf archive.tar.gz dir1/
  • Creates a compressed archive archive.tar.gz of the dir1 directory.

  Xz Example:

  $ tar -cJf archive.tar.xz dir2/
  • Creates archive.tar.xz with xz compression.

• Listing Archive Contents

  View what’s inside an archive with -t (list).

  $ tar -tf archive.tar
  • Lists files in archive.tar (e.g., file1.txt file2.txt).

  With Compression:

  $ tar -tzf archive.tar.gz
  • Lists contents of a gzip-compressed archive.

• Extracting an Archive

  Use -x (extract) to unpack an archive.

  $ tar -xf archive.tar
  • Extracts all files from archive.tar into the current directory.

  With Compression:

  tar -xzf archive.tar.gz
  • Extracts a gzip-compressed archive.

  Specific Files:

  $ tar -xf archive.tar file1.txt
  • Extracts only file1.txt from archive.tar.

• Extracting to a Directory

  Use -C to extract to a specific directory.

  $ tar -xzf archive.tar.gz -C /tmp/
  • Extracts archive.tar.gz into /tmp/.

• Verbose Output

  Add -v (verbose) to see what tar is doing.

  $ tar -cvf archive.tar dir1/
  • Shows each file as it’s added (e.g., dir1/file1.txt).

  During Extraction:

  $ tar -xvf archive.tar
  • Lists files as they’re extracted.

To get help related to the tar command use --help option

$ tar --help