tar and zip command on Linux

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Commands - Linux Commands

Written by Marcus Lee Beach

Wednesday, 19 August 2009 22:46

Using Tar to Zip and Unzip Files

I keep hearing the question “how do I use the tar command?” in the forum boards, so here is how I use it:

To archive all txt files in a folder, use the following command:

tar cvzf archive.tgz *.txt

To extract the contents of a tar file use:

tar xvzf archive.tgz

If you have a tar.zip use:

tar xfv *.zip.tar

Using Tar to Zip and Unzip Files

I keep hearing the question “how do I use the tar command?” in the forum boards, so here is how I use it:

To archive all txt files in a folder, use the following command:

tar cvzf archive.tgz *.txt

To extract the contents of a tar file use:

tar xvzf archive.tgz

If you have a tar.zip use:

tar xfv *.zip.tar

With OpenSuse, if you do a “man tar” you get the following documentation:

Linuxbox:~#man tar

TAR(1) User Commands TAR(1)

NAME

tar - The GNU version of the tar archiving utility

SYNOPSIS

tar [OPTION...] [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

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

-n, --seek

archive is seekable

--no-check-device

do not check device numbers when creating incremental archives

--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

--keep-newer-files

don't replace existing files that are newer than their archive

copies

--no-overwrite-dir

preserve metadata of existing directories

--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

-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')

--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

--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

--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

-p, --preserve-permissions, --same-permissions

extract information about file permissions (default for supe-

ruser)

--preserve

same as both -p and -s

--same-owner

try extracting files with the same ownership

-s, --preserve-order, --same-order

sort names to extract to match archive

Device selection and switching:

-f, --file=ARCHIVE

use archive file or device ARCHIVE

--force-local

archive file is local even if it has a colon

-F, --info-script=NAME, --new-volume-script=NAME

run script at end of each tape (implies -M)

-L, --tape-length=NUMBER

change tape after writing NUMBER x 1024 bytes

-M, --multi-volume

create/list/extract multi-volume archive

--rmt-command=COMMAND

use given rmt COMMAND instead of rmt

--rsh-command=COMMAND

use remote COMMAND instead of rsh

--volno-file=FILE

use/update the volume number in FILE

Device blocking:

-b, --blocking-factor=BLOCKS

BLOCKS x 512 bytes per record

-B, --read-full-records

reblock as we read (for 4.2BSD pipes)

-i, --ignore-zeros

ignore zeroed blocks in archive (means EOF)

--record-size=NUMBER

NUMBER of bytes per record, multiple of 512

Archive format selection:

-H, --format=FORMAT

create archive of the given format

FORMAT is one of the following:

gnu GNU tar 1.13.x format

oldgnu GNU format as per tar <= 1.12

pax POSIX 1003.1-2001 (pax) format

posix same as pax

ustar POSIX 1003.1-1988 (ustar) format

v7 old V7 tar format

--old-archive, --portability

same as --format=v7

--pax-option=keyword[[:]=value][,keyword[[:]=value]]...

control pax keywords

--posix

same as --format=posix

-V, --label=TEXT

create archive with volume name TEXT; at list/extract time, use

TEXT as a globbing pattern for volume name

Compression options:

-a, --auto-compress

use archive suffix to determine the compression program

-j, --bzip2

filter the archive through bzip2

--lzma filter the archive through lzma

--use-compress-program=PROG

filter through PROG (must accept -d)

-z, --gzip, --gunzip, --ungzip

filter the archive through gzip

-Z, --compress, --uncompress

filter the archive through compress

Local file selection:

--add-file=FILE

add given FILE to the archive (useful if its name starts with a

dash)

--backup[=CONTROL]

backup before removal, choose version CONTROL

-C, --directory=DIR

change to directory DIR

--exclude=PATTERN

exclude files, given as a PATTERN

--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

--exclude-tag=FILE

exclude contents of directories containing FILE, except for FILE

itself

--exclude-tag-all=FILE exclude directories containing FILE

--exclude-tag-under=FILE

exclude everything under directories containing FILE

--exclude-vcs

exclude version control system directories

-h, --dereference

follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they point to

--hard-dereference

follow hard links; archive and dump the files they refer to

-K, --starting-file=MEMBER-NAME

begin at member MEMBER-NAME in the archive

--newer-mtime=DATE

compare date and time when data changed only

--no-recursion

avoid descending automatically in directories

--no-unquote

do not unquote filenames read with -T

--null -T reads null-terminated names, disable -C

-N, --newer=DATE-OR-FILE, --after-date=DATE-OR-FILE

only store files newer than DATE-OR-FILE

--one-file-system

stay in local file system when creating archive

-P, --absolute-names

don't strip leading `/'s from file names

--recursion

recurse into directories (default)

--suffix=STRING

backup before removal, override usual suffix ('~' unless over-

ridden by environment variable SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX)

-T, --files-from=FILE

get names to extract or create from FILE

--unquote

unquote filenames read with -T (default)

-X, --exclude-from=FILE

exclude patterns listed in FILE

File name transformations:

--strip-components=NUMBER

strip NUMBER leading components from file names on extraction

--transform=EXPRESSION use sed replace EXPRESSION to transform file

names

File name matching options (affect both exclude and include pat-

terns):

--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)

Informative output:

--checkpoint[=NUMBER]

display progress messages every NUMBERth record (default 10)

--checkpoint-action=ACTION

execute ACTION on each checkpoint

--index-file=FILE

send verbose output to FILE

-l, --check-links

print a message if not all links are dumped

--no-quote-chars=STRING

disable quoting for characters from STRING

--quote-chars=STRING

additionally quote characters from STRING

--quoting-style=STYLE

set name quoting style; see below for valid STYLE values

-R, --block-number

show block number within archive with each message

--show-defaults

show tar defaults

--show-omitted-dirs

when listing or extracting, list each directory that does not

match search criteria

--show-transformed-names, --show-stored-names

show file or archive names after transformation

--totals[=SIGNAL]

print total bytes after processing the archive; with an argument

- print total bytes when this SIGNAL is delivered; Allowed sig-

nals are: SIGHUP, SIGQUIT, SIGINT, SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2; the

names without SIG prefix are also accepted

--utc print file modification dates in UTC

-v, --verbose

verbosely list files processed

-w, --interactive, --confirmation

ask for confirmation for every action

Compatibility options:

-o when creating, same as --old-archive; when extracting, same as

--no-same-owner

Other options:

-?, --help

give this help list

--restrict

disable use of some potentially harmful options

--usage

give a short usage message

--version

print program version

Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or

optional for any corresponding short options.

The backup suffix is `~', unless set with --suffix or SIM-

PLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control may be set with --backup or

VERSION_CONTROL, values are:

none, off

never make backups

t, numbered

make numbered backups

nil, existing

numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise

never, simple

always make simple backups

Valid arguments for --quoting-style options are:

literal shell shell-always c c-maybe escape locale clocale

*This* tar defaults to: --format=gnu -f- -b20 --quoting-style=escape

--rmt-command=/usr/libexec/rmt --rsh-command=/usr/bin/rsh

AUTHOR

Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to .

GPL version 3 or later

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.

There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.