Linux Pocket Guide, 2nd Edition

Name

tar — stdin  stdout  - file  -- opt  --help  --version

Synopsis

tar [options] [files]

The tar program was originally for backing up files onto a tape drive (its name is short for “tape archive”). Although tape has lost its popularity, tar is still the most common file-packaging format for Linux. It can pack multiple files and directories into a single file for transport, optionally compressed.

$ tar -czvf myarchive.tar.gz mydir      Create
$ tar -tzvf myarchive.tar.gz            List contents
$ tar -xzvf myarchive.tar.gz            Extract

If you actually have a tape drive, simply specify the drive’s device (such as /dev/tape) as the destination file:

$ tar -cf /dev/tape myfile1 myfile2

If you specify files on the command line, only those files are processed:

$ tar -xvf myarchive.tar file1 file2 file3

Otherwise, the entire archive is processed.

Useful options

-c	Create an archive. You’ll have to list the input files and directories on the command line.
-r	Append files to an existing archive.
-u	Append new/changed files to an existing archive.
-A	Append one archive to the end of another: e.g., tar -A -f first.tar second.tar appends the contents of second.tar to first.tar. Does not work for compressed archives.
-t	List the archive.
-x	Extract files from the archive.
-f file	Read the archive from, or write the archive to, the given file. This is usually a tar file on disk (such as myarchive.tar) but can also be a tape drive (such as /dev/tape).
-d	Diff (compare) the archive against the ...