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The best way to compress and extract files using the tar command on linux
Do you frequently compress and extract files on Linux/Ubuntu? Have you heard about.tar extension? Then this article is for you to learn about compress and extract files using the tar command with examples.
What is .tar?
In computing, tar is an application utility for collecting many records into one archive file, most likely known as a tarball, for distribution or backup functions .Tar was at the beginning developed in the early days of Unix for the intent of backing up records to tape-based storage. It used to be later formalized as a part of the POSIX standard.
To get more information about tar, use the following command –
$ tar --help
The sample output should be like this –
Usage: tar [OPTION...] [FILE]... GNU 'tar' saves many files together into a single tape or disk archive, and can restore individual files from the archive. Examples: tar -cf archive.tar foo bar # Create archive.tar from files foo and bar. tar -tvf archive.tar # List all files in archive.tar verbosely. tar -xf archive.tar # Extract all files from archive.tar. Main operation mode: -A, --catenate, --concatenate append tar files to an archive -c, --create create a new archive -d, --diff, --compare find differences between archive and file system --delete delete from the archive (not on mag tapes!) -r, --append append files to the end of an archive -t, --list list the contents of an archive --test-label test the archive volume label and exit -u, --update only append files newer than copy in archive -x, --extract, --get extract files from an archive Operation modifiers: --check-device check device numbers when creating incremental archives (default) -g, --listed-incremental=FILE handle new GNU-format incremental backup -G, --incremental handle old GNU-format incremental backup --ignore-failed-read do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files --level=NUMBER dump level for created listed-incremental archive -n, --seek archive is seekable --no-check-device do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives --no-seek archive is not seekable --occurrence[=NUMBER] process only the NUMBERth occurrence of each file in the archive; this option is valid only in conjunction with one of the subcommands --delete, --diff, --extract or --list and when a list of files is given either on the command line or via the -T option; NUMBER defaults to 1 --sparse-version=MAJOR[.MINOR] set version of the sparse format to use (implies--sparse) -S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently .........................................................................................
Creating a .tar Archive File
To create a .tar archive file, use the following command –
$ tar cvf tutorialspoint.tar /home/linux/12dec
In the above command, it archives 12dec directory which is placed at /home/linux/12dec as tutorialspoint.tar. To verify the above command, use the following command –
$ ls
The sample output should be like this –
12dec Documents flaskr Music static tutorialspoint.tar
crawling Downloads intern Pictures templates Videos
Desktop flask mozilla.pdf Public TemplatesUncompressing .tar Archive File
To uncompressing .tar archive file, use the following command –
$ tar -xvf tutorialspoint.tar
The sample output should be like this –
home/linux/12dec/ home/linux/12dec/final_url_weight.py home/linux/12dec/tp_Crawled_few.txt home/linux/12dec/Final_Url_Weight.csv home/linux/12dec/extracting_keywors.py home/linux/12dec/FINAL_URL_WEIGHT.db home/linux/12dec/site_health_depth5.txt home/linux/12dec/check_ageof_site.py home/linux/12dec/final_url_weight_sqlite.py
Creating a .tar.gz Archive File
To create a .tar.gz archive file, use the following command –
$ tar czvf tutorialspoint.tar.gz /home/linux/12dec
In the above command, it archives 12dec directory, which is placed at /home/linux/12dec as tutorialspoint.tar. To verify the above command, use the following command –
$ ls
The sample output should be like this –
12dec Documents flaskr Music static tutorialspoint.tar
crawling Downloads intern Pictures templates tutorialspoint.tar.gz
Desktop flask mozilla.pdf Public Templates VideosUncompressing .tar.gz Archive File
To uncompress .tar.gz archive file, use the following command –
$ tar -xzvf tutorialspoint.tar.gz
The sample output should be like this –
home/linux/12dec/ home/linux/12dec/final_url_weight.py home/linux/12dec/tp_Crawled_few.txt home/linux/12dec/Final_Url_Weight.csv home/linux/12dec/extracting_keywors.py home/linux/12dec/FINAL_URL_WEIGHT.db home/linux/12dec/site_health_depth5.txt home/linux/12dec/check_ageof_site.py home/linux/12dec/final_url_weight_sqlite.py
Creating a .tar.bz2 Archive File
To create a .tar.bz2 archive file, use the following command –
$ tar cjvf tutorialspoint.tar.bz2 /home/linux/12dec
In the above command, it archives 12dec directory, which is placed at /home/linux/12dec as tutorialspoint.tar. To verify the above command, use the following command –
$ ls
The sample output should be like this –
12dec Downloads mozilla.pdf static tutorialspoint.tar.bz2
crawling flask Music templates tutorialspoint.tar.gz
Desktop flaskr Pictures Templates Videos
Documents intern Public tutorialspoint.tarUncompressing .tar.bz2 Archive File
To uncompress .tar.gz archive file, use the following command –
$ tar -xjvf tutorialspoint.tar.bz2
The sample output should be like this –
home/linux/12dec/ home/linux/12dec/final_url_weight.py home/linux/12dec/tp_Crawled_few.txt home/linux/12dec/Final_Url_Weight.csv home/linux/12dec/extracting_keywors.py home/linux/12dec/FINAL_URL_WEIGHT.db home/linux/12dec/site_health_depth5.txt home/linux/12dec/check_ageof_site.py home/linux/12dec/final_url_weight_sqlite.py
Extracting a .tar file in different Location
To extract a .tar file in different location, use the following command –
$ tar -xvf tutorialspoint.tar -C /home/linux/abc
In the above command tutorialspoint.tar archive file extracted at /home/linux/abc/ location. the sample output should be like this –
home/linux/12dec/ home/linux/12dec/final_url_weight.py home/linux/12dec/tp_Crawled_few.txt home/linux/12dec/Final_Url_Weight.csv home/linux/12dec/extracting_keywors.py home/linux/12dec/FINAL_URL_WEIGHT.db home/linux/12dec/site_health_depth5.txt home/linux/12dec/check_ageof_site.py home/linux/12dec/final_url_weight_sqlite.py
To verify the above command, use the following command –
/abc/home/linux/12dec$ ls
The sample output should be like this –
check_ageof_site.py FINAL_URL_WEIGHT.db site_health_depth5.txt extracting_keywors.py final_url_weight.py tp_Crawled_few.txt Final_Url_Weight.csv final_url_weight_sqlite.py
After this article, you will be able to understand on How to Compress and Extract Files Using the tar Command on Linux. In our next articles, we will come up with more Linux based tricks and tips. Keep reading!
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