Working with tar
tarstands for Tape Archive.- Used to archive multiple files/directories into a single file.
- Commonly used for backup, compression, and packaging.
- Output is usually a
.tar,.tar.gz,.tgz, or.tar.bz2file.
Basic Syntax
tar [options] [archive-file] [file or directory to archive]Common Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
-c | Create new archive |
-x | Extract from archive |
-t | List contents of archive |
-v | Verbose (show file names) |
-f | File name of archive |
-z | Compress with gzip (.tar.gz, .tgz) |
-j | Compress with bzip2 (.tar.bz2) |
-J | Compress with xz (.tar.xz) |
Create an Archive
tar -cvf archive.tar file1 file2 dir/- Creates
archive.tarwith specified files/directories -c: create,-v: verbose,-f: archive name
Create Compressed Archive
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz file1 dir/- Uses gzip compression (
-z)
tar -cjvf archive.tar.bz2 file1 dir/- Uses bzip2 compression (
-j)
Extract Archive
tar -xvf archive.tar- Extracts contents into current directory
tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz- Extracts
.tar.gzarchive
tar -xjvf archive.tar.bz2- Extracts
.tar.bz2archive
Extract to Specific Directory
tar -xvf archive.tar -C /path/to/dirList Archive Contents
tar -tvf archive.tarAdd File to Existing Archive (not compressed)
tar -rvf archive.tar newfile.txtExtract Single File
tar -xvf archive.tar file1.txtSummary
| Task | Command Example |
|---|---|
Create .tar | tar -cvf archive.tar files/ |
Create .tar.gz | tar -czvf archive.tar.gz files/ |
Extract .tar | tar -xvf archive.tar |
Extract .tar.gz | tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz |
| List contents | tar -tvf archive.tar |
| Extract to directory | tar -xvf archive.tar -C /target/path |
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