tar #

What is tar? #

TAR (short for tape archive) is a commonly used utility in Linux environments for archiving multiple files and directories into a single file. TAR is a powerful tool that allows users to archive data for backup purposes, software distribution, and file transfer. In this article, we will cover the basics of using TAR on a Linux environment.

Creating a TAR Archive #

To create a TAR archive, we use the tar command followed by various options and arguments. Here’s an example of how to create a TAR archive of a directory:

tar -cvf myarchive.tar /path/to/directory

Let’s break down this command:

Option	Description
-c	Option for creating a new archive
-v	Option for verbose output, which shows the progress of the archive creation process
-f	Option for specifying the filename of the archive
myarchive.tar	Filename of the archive
/path/to/directory	is the path of the directory we want to archive

Extracting a TAR Archive #

To extract the contents of a TAR archive, we use the tar command again with different options and arguments. Here’s an example of how to extract the contents of a TAR archive:

tar -xvf myarchive.tar

Let’s break down this command:

Option	Description
-x	Option for extracting the archive
-v	Option for verbose output, which shows the progress of the extraction process
-f	Option for specifying the filename of the archive
myarchive.tar	is the filename of the archive we want to extract

Listing the Contents of a TAR Archive #

To list the contents of a TAR archive, we use the tar command with different options and arguments. Here’s an example of how to list the contents of a TAR archive:

tar -tvf myarchive.tar

Let’s break down this command:

Option	Description
-t	Option for listing the contents of the archive
-v	Option for verbose output, which shows the contents of the archive
-f	Option for specifying the filename of the archive
myarchive.tar	is the filename of the archive we want to list