15+ tar command usages with examples – Unix/Linux--reference

reference :http://crybit.com/tar-command-usages-with-examples/

The ‘tar’ saves many files together into a single tape or disk archive, and can restore individual files from the archive. It is very useful in such conditions like when we want to send a lot of files via email, transfer files from one machine to another etc. Here I am explaining some common and useful switches and it usages with examples.

Syntax:

# tar [options] file.tar file1 file2 .. .. .. 

Where file.tar is the tar file and file1 and file2 .. .. are the files to make a tar.

I have created two files file1.txt and file2.txt for making examples.

[root@localhost TAR]# ll total 8 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2770 Feb 7 22:37 file1.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 887 Feb 7 22:38 file2.txt 

Common usages of tar command:

How to create a tar file ?
Syntax:

# tar -cf archive.tar files .. .. 

Example:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -cf file.tar file1.txt file2.txt [root@localhost TAR]# ll file.tar -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 10240 Feb 7 22:42 file.tar 

How to list all files in an archive.tar ?

# tar -tf archive.tar 

Example:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -tf file.tar file1.txt file2.txt 

How to extract all files from archive.tar ?

tar -xf archive.tar 

Example:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -xf file.tar [root@localhost TAR]# ll total 20 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2770 Feb 7 22:37 file1.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 887 Feb 7 22:38 file2.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 10240 Feb 7 22:42 file.tar 

Switches with example:

1, -v, –verbose
verbosely list files processed:
Syntax:
List all files in an archive.tar verbosely:

tar -tvf archive.tar 

Example:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -tvf file.tar -rw-r--r-- root/root 2770 2014-02-07 22:37 file1.txt -rw-r--r-- root/root 887 2014-02-07 22:38 file2.txt 

2, -c, –create
create a new archive.

3, -t, –list
list the contents of an archive.

4, -x, –extract, –get
extract files from an archive.

5, -d, –diff, –compare
find differences between archive and file system.
Example:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -tf file.tar file2.txt file3.txt file1.txt [root@localhost TAR]# tar -df file.tar file1.txt file2.txt file4.txt tar: file4.txt: Not found in archive tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors ----Verbosely---- [root@localhost TAR]# tar -dvf file.tar file1.txt file2.txt file2.txt file1.txt [root@localhost TAR]# tar -dvf file.tar file1.txt file2.txt file6.txt file2.txt file1.txt tar: file6.txt: Not found in archive tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors 

6, –delete
delete from the archive (not on mag tapes!)
Example:
Delete file1.txt from the archive file.tar

[root@localhost TAR]# tar --delete -f file.tar file1.txt [root@localhost TAR]# tar -tf file.tar file2.txt 

7, -r, –append
Append files to the end of an archive.
Example:
Append file3.txt to file.tar

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -rf file.tar file3.txt [root@localhost TAR]# tar -tf file.tar file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt 

8, -A, –catenate, –concatenate
Append tar files to an archive.
Create another tar file

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -cf archive.tar file1.txt file3.txt 

Append tar file to an archive.

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -Af file.tar archive.tar [root@localhost TAR]# tar -tf file.tar file2.txt file3.txt file1.txt file1.txt file3.txt 

9, –test-label
test the archive volume label and exit.

10, -u, –update
Only append files newer than copy in archive.
Example:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -tf file.tar file1.txt file2.txt [root@localhost TAR]# tar -uf file.tar file1.txt file3.txt file2.txt [root@localhost TAR]# tar -tf file.tar file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt 

11, -C, –directory=DIR
Change to directory DIR.

Example:
Extract files to another directory:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -xvf file.tar -C /root/TAR2 file1.txt file2.txt [root@localhost TAR]# cd - /root/TAR2 [root@localhost TAR2]# ll total 28 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 23250 Feb 7 23:11 file1.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 887 Feb 7 22:38 file2.txt 

12, -p, –preserve-permissions
Extract information about file permissions (default for superuser)

Create archive with compression:
It is very helpful to make an archive of files which has comparatively large size. Commonly using compression methods are “BZIP” and “GZIP”.

Switches with examples, compression related.

13, -j, –bzip2
filter the archive through bzip2

Example:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -jcf file.tar.bz file2.txt file1.txt [root@localhost TAR]# ll total 128 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 23250 Feb 7 23:11 file1.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 887 Feb 7 22:38 file2.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 30720 Feb 7 23:30 file.tar -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1797 Feb 7 23:42 file.tar.bz 

See, the tar file size is decreased to 1797 with BZIP

14, -z, –gzip
filter the archive through gzip

Example:

[root@localhost TAR]# tar -zcf file.tar.gz file2.txt file1.txt [root@localhost TAR]# ll total 132 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 23250 Feb 7 23:11 file1.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 887 Feb 7 22:38 file2.txt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 30720 Feb 7 23:30 file.tar -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1797 Feb 7 23:42 file.tar.bz -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1673 Feb 7 23:45 file.tar.gz 

That’s it!! 

Other useful commands:
groupdel, groupmems, groupmod, useradd , usermod , chgrp, chown, ls, head, tail, top, ps, find,crontab, ftp commands