How to Use the tar command to Create and Extract Tar.gz Files on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04
For new users and students learning how to use and manage Linux systems, the easiest place to start might be on Ubuntu Linux OS… Ubuntu is an open source Linux operating systems that runs on desktops, laptops, server and other devices…
The same way one uses a mouse and keyboard to manage files and folders or perform others simple tasks on Microsoft Windows OS, Ubuntu also makes that easy for you… If you think Windows is easy to use, then Ubuntu might be just what you need and for other beginners.
However, when you’re learning to use and understand Ubuntu Linux, you’ll also want to learn the commands behind the GUI interface and mouse-clicking — and how to use them… This tutorial is going to show you how…..
This post shows new users and students what the tar command is used for and how to use it…
When you’re ready to learn how to use the tar commands, follow the guide below:
About tar command:
The tar command stands for tape achieve, which is the most commonly used tape drive backup command used by the Linux/Unix system… It allows you to quickly gather files and save them into a highly compressed archive file commonly called tarball.
Gzip has become the most popular algorithm for compressing tar files… In short, a file that ends in .tar.gz is an archive compressed with gzip algorithm..
The same way you use your mouse and keyboard to create archived or zipped files and folders…. the tar is the way to do it on the command line…
Syntax:
The syntax is the rule and format of how the tar command can be used… These syntax options can be reordered, but a straight format must be followed.,.
Below is an example syntax of how to use the tar command….
tar [OPTION...] [FILE]...
Options:
The command line options are switches or flags that determined how the commands are executed or controlled… they modify the behavior of the commands… they are separated by spaces and followed after the commands…
Below are some options of the tar command:
| FILES… | Replace FILES….. with the files you wish to archive using the tar command.. |
| -c, –create | Use the -c or –create create a new archive |
| -f, –file | Use the -f or –file to create a file archive |
| -x, –extract | Use the -x or –extract to extract files from an archive |
| -t, –list | Use the -t or –list to displays or lists files in archived file |
| -u, –update | Use the -u or –update to only append files newer than copy in existing archive |
| -j, –bzip2 | Use the -j or –bzip2 to create a new archive through bzip2 |
| -z, –gzip, –gunzip | Use the -z or –gzip options to create a new archive through tar.gz |
| -C, –directory=DIR | Use the -C or –directory to create a new archive using the directory specified |
| -v, –verbose | Use the -v or –verbose option output a diagnostic for every directory processed |
| –help | Use the –help option to display this help and exit |
| –version | Use the –version option to output version information and exit |
Examples:
Below are some examples of how to run and use the tar on Ubuntu Linux…
If you want to create an archived file called confidential.tar from files called private and secrets in the same directory, you will run the commands below…
tar -cf confidential.tar private secrets
To create a new archive file using the tar.gz algorithm from the /documents/public/students directory, you run the commands.. You’ll need to use the command with option -C and specified the directory..
tar -czf confidential.tar.gz -C /documents/public/students
If you want to extract an archived file to a specified directory, you run the commands below:
tar -xf confidential.tar.gz -C /home/students/files
If you just want to extract the confidential.tar.gz file to the same directory you’re working in, you run the commands below:
tar -xf confidential.tar.gz
If you’re not logged in as a root account, you may have to use the sudo command it it…
sudo tar -czf confidential.tar.gz -C /documents/public/students
When you run tar with the –help option, you’ll see the help text below:
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.
Local file name selection:
--add-file=FILE add given FILE to the archive (useful if its name
starts with a dash)
-C, --directory=DIR change to directory DIR
--exclude=PATTERN exclude files, given as a PATTERN
--exclude-backups exclude backup and lock files
--exclude-caches exclude contents of directories containing
CACHEDIR.TAG, except for the tag file itself
--exclude-caches-all exclude directories containing CACHEDIR.TAG
--exclude-caches-under exclude everything under directories containing
CACHEDIR.TAG
--recursion recurse into directories (default)
-T, --files-from=FILE get names to extract or create from FILE
--unquote unquote input file or member names (default)
--verbatim-files-from -T reads file names verbatim (no option handling)
-X, --exclude-from=FILE exclude patterns listed in FILE
File name matching options (affect both exclude and include patterns):
--anchored patterns match file name start
--ignore-case ignore case
--no-anchored patterns match after any '/' (default for
exclusion)
--no-ignore-case case sensitive matching (default)
--no-wildcards verbatim string matching
--no-wildcards-match-slash wildcards do not match '/'
--wildcards use wildcards (default for exclusion)
--wildcards-match-slash wildcards match '/' (default for exclusion)
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
--hole-detection=TYPE technique to detect holes
--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
Overwrite control:
-k, --keep-old-files don't replace existing files when extracting,
treat them as errors
--keep-directory-symlink preserve existing symlinks to directories when
extracting
--keep-newer-files don't replace existing files that are newer than
their archive copies
--no-overwrite-dir preserve metadata of existing directories
--one-top-level[=DIR] create a subdirectory to avoid having loose files
extracted
--overwrite overwrite existing files when extracting
--overwrite-dir overwrite metadata of existing directories when
extracting (default)
--recursive-unlink empty hierarchies prior to extracting directory
--remove-files remove files after adding them to the archive
--skip-old-files don't replace existing files when extracting,
silently skip over them
-U, --unlink-first remove each file prior to extracting over it
-W, --verify attempt to verify the archive after writing it
Select output stream:
--ignore-command-error ignore exit codes of children
--no-ignore-command-error treat non-zero exit codes of children as
error
-O, --to-stdout extract files to standard output
--to-command=COMMAND pipe extracted files to another program
Handling of file attributes:
--atime-preserve[=METHOD] preserve access times on dumped files, either
by restoring the times after reading
(METHOD='replace'; default) or by not setting the
times in the first place (METHOD='system')
--clamp-mtime only set time when the file is more recent than
what was given with --mtime
--delay-directory-restore delay setting modification times and
permissions of extracted directories until the end
of extraction
--group=NAME force NAME as group for added files
--group-map=FILE use FILE to map file owner GIDs and names
--mode=CHANGES force (symbolic) mode CHANGES for added files
--mtime=DATE-OR-FILE set mtime for added files from DATE-OR-FILE
-m, --touch don't extract file modified time
--no-delay-directory-restore
cancel the effect of --delay-directory-restore
option
--no-same-owner extract files as yourself (default for ordinary
users)
--no-same-permissions apply the user's umask when extracting permissions
from the archive (default for ordinary users)
--numeric-owner always use numbers for user/group names
--owner=NAME force NAME as owner for added files
--owner-map=FILE use FILE to map file owner UIDs and names
-p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions
extract information about file permissions
(default for superuser)
--same-owner try extracting files with the same ownership as
exists in the archive (default for superuser)
-s, --preserve-order, --same-order
member arguments are listed in the same order as
the files in the archive
--sort=ORDER directory sorting order: none (default), name or
That’s it!
Congratulations! You’ve learned how to use the tar command to create and extract archives files…
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