- 1How to Create a File in Linux
- 2How to Rename a File in Linux
- 3How to Copy a File in Linux
- 4How to Move a File in Linux
- 5How to Delete a File in Linux
- 6How to Create a Directory in Linux
- 7How to Delete a Directory in Linux
- 8How to Copy Directories Recursively in Linux
- 9Delete Directories Recursively in Linux
- 10How to View Hidden Files in Linux
- 11How to Create a Hidden File in Linux
- 12How to Create a Hidden Directory in Linux
- 13How to Find Files in Linux Using find Command
- 14Find Files in Linux Using locate Command
- 15How to View File Contents Using cat in Linux
- 16How to View File Contents Using less in Linux
- 17View File Contents Using the more Command in Linux
- 18Compare Files Using diff Command in Linux
- 19Compare Files in Linux Using cmp Command
- 20Check File Type in Linux with file Command
- 21Create Symbolic Links with ln -s in Linux
- 22How to Archive Files Using tar Command in Linux
- 23Compress Files with gzip in Linux – Beginner Tutorial
- 24How to Compress Files Using bzip2 in Linux
- 25Compress Files in Linux Using zip Command
- 26Extract Compressed Files using tar in Linux
- 27Extract ZIP Files on Linux with unzip
- 28How to Extract .gz Files using gunzip in Linux
How to Archive Files Using tar Command
How to Archive Files Using tar
Command
Hey there! 👋 If you're just starting with Linux, you're probably dealing with a lot of files and folders. Maybe you want to back them up, maybe you want to send them to someone, or just keep them neat and compact. That's where the tar
command comes in — it's your go-to tool for archiving files on Linux.
🎯 What is tar
?
tar
stands for "tape archive" — it was originally used for writing data to tape drives, but now it's a super useful command for bundling up files and folders into a single file, called a tarball (usually with a .tar
extension).
📦 Let's Create an Archive
Suppose you have a folder called project
and you want to archive it.
tar -cvf project.tar project/
-c
= create a new archive-v
= verbose (shows the progress)-f
= file name of the archive
This will create a file called project.tar
in your current directory.
project/
project/file1.txt
project/file2.txt
project/images/logo.png
🗜️ Want to Compress It Too?
No problem! Just add -z
to compress the tarball using gzip.
tar -czvf project.tar.gz project/
Now your archive is smaller and easier to share!
🔍 How to List Contents of a Tar File
Let’s say you want to peek inside without extracting:
tar -tvf project.tar
drwxr-xr-x user/user 0 2025-07-01 10:00 project/
-rw-r--r-- user/user 123 2025-07-01 10:00 project/file1.txt
-rw-r--r-- user/user 456 2025-07-01 10:00 project/file2.txt
📂 How to Extract a Tar File
If someone sends you a tarball and you want to unpack it:
tar -xvf project.tar
Want to extract a .tar.gz
file? Same idea:
tar -xzvf project.tar.gz
📁 Extract to a Specific Directory
You can also specify where the files should go:
tar -xvf project.tar -C /home/yourname/Documents/
✨ Common tar Options Summary
-c
: Create a new archive-x
: Extract files-v
: Verbose mode (show progress)-f
: Archive file name-z
: Use gzip to compress/decompress-t
: List contents of an archive-C
: Change to directory before extracting
🚀 Wrap-Up
That’s it! You’ve just learned how to archive and extract files using tar
in Linux. It’s a powerful little command that you’ll find yourself using a lot. Try it out on some folders and play around with the options. Happy archiving! 🐧
Next Topic ⮕Compress Files with gzip in Linux – Beginner Tutorial
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