> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://paul-gleason.gitbook.io/linux-data-management/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://paul-gleason.gitbook.io/linux-data-management/archive-and-compression/tar.md). # Tar ## Documentation {% embed url="" %} ## Options ``` -c : Creates Archive -x : Extract the archive -f : creates archive with given filename -t : displays or lists files in archived file -u : archives and adds to an existing archive file -v : Displays Verbose Information -A : Concatenates the archive files -z : zip, tells tar command that creates tar file using gzip -j : filter archive tar file using tbzip -W : Verify a archive file -r : update or add file or directory in already existed .tar file ``` ## Usage ### **Creating an uncompressed tar Archive using option -cvf** This command creates a tar file called file.tar which is the Archive of all .c files in current directory. ```bash tar -cvf .tar *.c ``` **Output:** ``` os2.c os3.c os4.c ``` ### **Extracting files from Archive using option -xvf** This command extracts files from Archives. ```bash tar -xvf .tar ``` **Output:** ```bash os2.c os3.c os4.c ``` ### **gzip compression on the tar Archive, using option -z** This command creates a tar file called file.tar.gz which is the Archive of .c files. ```bash tar -cvzf .tar.gz *.c ``` ### **Extracting a gzip tar Archive \*.tar.gz using option -xvzf** This command extracts files from tar archived file.tar.gz files. ```bash tar -xvzf .tar.gz ``` ### **Creating compressed tar archive file in Linux using option -j** This command compresses and creates archive file less than the size of the gzip. Both compress and decompress takes more time then gzip. ```bash tar -cvfj .tar.tbz example.cpp ``` Output ```bash $ tar -cvfj .tar.tbz example.cpp example.cpp $ tar -tvf .tar.tbz -rwxrwxrwx root/root 94 2017-09-17 02:47 example.cpp ``` ### **Untar single tar file or specified directory in Linux** This command will Untar a file in current directory or in a specified directory using -C option. ```bash $ tar -xvfj file.tar or $ tar -xvfj file.tar -C ``` ### **Untar multiple .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.tbz file in Linux** This command will extract or untar multiple files from the tar, tar.gz and tar.bz2 archive file. For example the above command will extract “fileA” “fileB” from the archive files. ```bash $ tar -xvf .tar "fileA" "fileB" or $ tar -zxvf .tar.gz "fileA" "fileB" or $ tar -jxvf .tar.tbz "fileA" "fileB" ``` ### **Check size of existing tar, tar.gz, tar.tbz file in Linux** The above command will display the size of archive file in Kilobytes(KB). ```bash $ tar -czf .tar | wc -c or $ tar -czf .tar.gz | wc -c or $ tar -czf .tar.tbz | wc -c ``` ### **Update existing tar file in Linux** ```bash tar -rvf .tar *.c ``` **Output:** ``` os1.c ``` ### **List the contents and specify the tarfile using option -tf** This command will list the entire list of archived file. We can also list for specific content in a tarfile ```bash tar -tf .tar ``` **Output:** ``` example.cpp ``` ### **Applying pipe to through ‘grep command’ to find what we are looking for** This command will list only for the mentioned text or image in grep from archived file. ```bash $ tar -tvf .tar | grep "text to find" or $ tar -tvf .tar | grep "filename.file extension" ``` ### **We can pass a file name as an argument to search a tarfile** This command views the archived files along with their details. ```bash tar -tvf .tar filename ``` ### **Viewing the Archive using option -tvf** ```bash tar -tvf .tar ``` **Output:** ``` -rwxrwxrwx root/root 191 2017-09-17 02:20 os2.c -rwxrwxrwx root/root 218 2017-09-17 02:20 os3.c -rwxrwxrwx root/root 493 2017-09-17 02:20 os4.c ``` ### **Wildcards** Alternatively referred to as a ‘wild character’ or ‘wildcard character’, a wildcard is a symbol used to replace or represent one or more characters. Wildcards are typically either an asterisk (\*), which represents one or more characters or question mark (?),which represents a single character. ### **To search for an image in .png format** This will extract only files with the extension .png from the archive file.tar. The –wildcards option tells tar to interpret wildcards in the name of the files to be extracted; the filename (*.png) is enclosed in single-quotes to protect the wildcard (*) from being expanded incorrectly by the shell. ```bash tar -tvf .tar --wildcards '*.png' ``` --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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