Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook - Third Edition

How to do it...

The tar command creates, updates, examines, and unpacks archives.

1. To create an archive file with tar:

        $ tar -cf output.tar [SOURCES]  

The c option creates a new archive and the f option tells tar the name of a file to use for the archive. The f option must be followed by a filename:

        $ tar -cf archive.tar file1 file2 file3 folder1 ..  

2. The -t option lists the contents of an archive:

        $ tar -tf archive.tar
        file1
        file2  

3. The -v or -vv flag includes more information in the output. These features are called verbose (v) and very-verbose (vv). The -v convention is common for commands that generate reports by printing to the terminal. The -v option displays more details, such as file permissions, owner group, and modification ...