Tar Command Examples

GUN tar can be used to create and manipulate archive files.

By default, GNU tar handle archive files in gnu or posix format (usually with suffix .tar). However, it can work with various compression programs (gzip, bzip2, lzip, lzma, lzop, zstd, xz, compress).

Suffix	Compression Program
.xz	xz
.gz	gzip
.tgz	gzip
.taz	gzip
.bz2	bzip2
.tz2	bzip2
.tbz2	bzip2
.tbz	bzip2
.lzma	lzma
.tlz	lzma
.lzo	lzop
.lz	lzip
.zst	zstd
.tzst	zstd
.Z	compress
.taZ	compress

While compressing or decompressing archive files, if getting error “xxx command not found” or “cannot run xxx”, you will need to install corresponding compression program.

GNU tar has three option styles, which are traditional style, Unix (short-option) style and GNU (long-option) style, here only use Unix style.

Basic usage

To list all contents of an archive file:

tar -tvf archive.tar

To extract all files from an archive file to current path:

tar -xvf archive.tar

To extract all files from an archive file to a specific path:

tar -xvf archive.tar -C /path/to/somewhere

To archive multiple files or directories into one tar file:

tar -cvf archive.tar somefile somedir

To archive multiple files or directories into one gzip file:

tar -cvzf archive.tar.gz somefile somedir

To archive multiple files or directories into one bzip2 file:

tar -cvjf archive.tar.bz2 somefile somedir

To archive multiple files or directories into one xz file:

tar -cvJf archive.tar.xz somefile somedir

To archive multiple files or directories into one file, whose format depends on suffix of the specified file name:

tar -cvaf archive.tar.bz2 somefile somedir

Advanced usage

To extract specific files from an archive file to current path:

tar -xvf archive.tar filename1 filename2

To extract files with specific pattern:

tar -xvf archive.tar --wildcards '*.txt'

To extract files excluded by specific pattern:

tar -xvf archive.tar --exclude '*.txt'

Change the owner of extracted files to current user:

tar -xvf archive.tar --no-same-owner

To append files to a tar file:

tar -rvf archive.tar somefile somedir

To append updated files to a tar file (no overwrite the old file):

tar -uvf archive.tar somefile somedir

To delete files from a tar file:

tar -vf archive.tar --delete somefile somedir

Unfortunately, for archive file that was created by third-party compression program, you can not append files to it, update it, or delete files from it.

Learn more

To show help of all available commands and options:

tar --usage

To show help of a specific command:

tar --help

To learn more from manual:

man tar

Useful resouces:

• GNU tar manual