Archiving Files

  • Archiving combines many files into one.
  • tar is the main tool for creating these archives.
  • Tar archives can be restored back into the original files.

tar ( TApe aRchive )has three main modes:

  • Create → make a new archive
  • Extract → restore files from an archive
  • List → view archive contents without extracting

Key idea : Remember the mode and where to place the archive name when using tar.

1. Create Mode

Format : tar -c [-f ARCHIVE] [OPTIONS] [FILE...]

Here * Use tar -c to create an archive. * Use -f ARCHIVE to name the archive file. * Remaining arguments = files/directories to include.

Examples:

tar -cf alpha_files.tar alpha*      # Create tar archive
ls -l alpha_files.tar               # see long details
tar -czf alpha_files.tar.gz alpha*  # Create + gzip compress
gzip -l  alpha_files.tar.gz         # gzip Size Check

tar -cjf folders.tar.bz2 School     # Create + bzip2 compress
Common options:

  • -c → create
  • -f → specify archive filename
  • -z → gzip Compress (or decompress) (.tar.gz / .tgz)
  • -j → bzip2 Compress (or decompress) (.tar.bz2 / .tbz)

2. View the contents of a tar archive : -t command

Example : 

tar -tf alpha_files.tar       # List files in uncompressed tar
tar -tzf alpha_files.tar.gz   # List files in gzip-compressed tar
tar -tjf alpha_files.tar.bz2  # List files in bzip2-compressed tar

3 . Extract Mode : -x command

  • Use tar -x to extract files from an archive.

tar -xf ARCHIVE -C /path/to/destination      # For uncompressed tar
tar -xzf ARCHIVE -C /path/to/destination     # For gzip-compressed tar
tar -xjf ARCHIVE -C /path/to/destination     # For bzip2-compressed tar
Examples:

tar -xf alpha_files.tar            # Extract from uncompressed tar
tar -xzf alpha_files.tar.gz        # Extract from gzip-compressed tar
tar -xjf alpha_files.tar.bz2       # Extract from bzip2-compressed tar

Note: Files are extracted into the current directory unless a path is specified.

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Notes:

  • Tarballs are often slightly larger before compression.
  • Compressed tarballs follow naming conventions like .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.bz2.