Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook - Third Edition

Appending files to an archive

The -r option will append new files to the end of an existing archive:

    $ tar -rvf original.tar new_file

The next example creates an archive with one text file in it:

    $ echo hello >hello.txt
    $ tar -cf archive.tar hello.txt

The -t option displays the files in an archive. The -f option defines the archive name:

    $ tar -tf archive.tar
    hello.txt

The -r option appends a file:

    $ tar -rf archive.tar world.txt
    $ tar -tf archive.tar
    hello.txt
    world.txt

The archive now contains both the files.