- 1Linux Topics Index
- 2How to Create a File in Linux
- 3How to Rename a File in Linux
- 4How to Copy a File in Linux
- 5How to Move a File in Linux
- 6How to Delete a File in Linux
- 7How to Create a Directory in Linux
- 8How to Delete a Directory in Linux
- 9How to Copy Directories Recursively in Linux
- 10Delete Directories Recursively in Linux
- 11How to View Hidden Files in Linux
- 12How to Create a Hidden File in Linux
- 13How to Create a Hidden Directory in Linux
- 14How to Find Files in Linux Using find Command
- 15Find Files in Linux Using locate Command
- 16How to View File Contents Using cat in Linux
- 17How to View File Contents Using less in Linux
- 18View File Contents Using the more Command in Linux
- 19Compare Files Using diff Command in Linux
- 20Compare Files in Linux Using cmp Command
- 21Check File Type in Linux with file Command
- 22Create Symbolic Links with ln -s in Linux
- 23How to Archive Files Using tar Command in Linux
- 24Compress Files with gzip in Linux – Beginner Tutorial
- 25How to Compress Files Using bzip2 in Linux
- 26Compress Files in Linux Using zip Command
- 27Extract Compressed Files using tar in Linux
- 28Extract ZIP Files on Linux with unzip
- 29How to Extract .gz Files using gunzip in Linux

- 1Linux Topics Index
- 2How to Create a File in Linux
- 3How to Rename a File in Linux
- 4How to Copy a File in Linux
- 5How to Move a File in Linux
- 6How to Delete a File in Linux
- 7How to Create a Directory in Linux
- 8How to Delete a Directory in Linux
- 9How to Copy Directories Recursively in Linux
- 10Delete Directories Recursively in Linux
- 11How to View Hidden Files in Linux
- 12How to Create a Hidden File in Linux
- 13How to Create a Hidden Directory in Linux
- 14How to Find Files in Linux Using find Command
- 15Find Files in Linux Using locate Command
- 16How to View File Contents Using cat in Linux
- 17How to View File Contents Using less in Linux
- 18View File Contents Using the more Command in Linux
- 19Compare Files Using diff Command in Linux
- 20Compare Files in Linux Using cmp Command
- 21Check File Type in Linux with file Command
- 22Create Symbolic Links with ln -s in Linux
- 23How to Archive Files Using tar Command in Linux
- 24Compress Files with gzip in Linux – Beginner Tutorial
- 25How to Compress Files Using bzip2 in Linux
- 26Compress Files in Linux Using zip Command
- 27Extract Compressed Files using tar in Linux
- 28Extract ZIP Files on Linux with unzip
- 29How to Extract .gz Files using gunzip in Linux

- 1How to Add a New User in Linux
- 2Modify Existing User in Linux
- 3Delete a User in Linux — Step-by-Step for Beginners
- 4Create a User Group in Linux - Step-by-Step Tutorial
- 5Linux: Add User to Group
- 6How to Remove a User from a Group in Linux
- 7Delete a User Group in Linux - Beginner Friendly Tutorial
- 8Linux su Command Tutorial – Switch Users Easily
- 9Linux sudo Command - Execute as Another User
- 10Change a User's Password in Linux Using passwd
- 11Set Password Expiry in Linux using chage
- 12Lock a User Account in Linux
- 13How to Unlock a User Account in Linux
- 14Configure User Login Shell in Linux
- 15How to Configure User Environment Variables in Linux
- 16Edit .bashrc and .profile in Linux - User Startup Files Tutorial
How to Archive Files Using tar Command
Next Topic ⮕Compress Files with gzip in Linux – Beginner Tutorial
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! 🐧