Linux / Unix: Tarball Delete ( remove ) File

How do I delete OR remove a single file from within a tar ball under Unix / Linux like operating systems?

You can use the following syntax to delete a file from a tar ball:

 
tar --delete -f example.tar filename

Example: Delete a File From a Tar Ball

First, create a tar ball for testing purpose using the tar command, enter:
# cd /tmp # tar -cvf foo.tar /etc
To display a list of files, enter:
# tar -tvf foo.tar
OR
# tar -tvf foo.tar | grep 'etc/resolv.conf'
Sample outputs:

-rw-r--r-- root/root        30 2011-09-20 17:51 etc/resolv.conf.tmp
-rw-r--r-- root/root       185 2011-07-27 20:35 etc/resolv.conf
-rw-r--r-- root/root        185 2011-07-27 20:35 etc/resolv.conf.pppd-backup.ppp0
-rw-r--r-- root/root         51 2011-07-12 03:14 etc/resolv.conf~

To delete a file called 'etc/resolv.conf' from a tar ball called foo.tar, enter:
# tar --delete -f foo.tar etc/resolv.conf
Verify that file has been deleted from the tar ball:
# tar -tvf foo.tar | grep 'etc/resolv.conf'
Sample outputs:

-rw-r--r-- root/root        30 2011-09-20 17:51 etc/resolv.conf.tmp
-rw-r--r-- root/root        185 2011-07-27 20:35 etc/resolv.conf.pppd-backup.ppp0
-rw-r--r-- root/root         51 2011-07-12 03:14 etc/resolv.conf~

To delete all etc/resolv.conf files, use the --wildcards opitons. It will enable pattern matching:
# tar --wildcards --delete -f foo.tar 'etc/resolv.conf*'
Use the following command to verify that files deleted from the tar ball:
# tar -tvf foo.tar | grep 'etc/resolv.conf'

Please note that you are not allowed to modify or delete files from compressed archives such as tar.gz or tar.bz2.

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Tim September 25, 2011 at 10:07 pm

I didn’t know this could be done. Unfortunately, it isn’t available in Mac OS X.

2 Evan October 28, 2011 at 7:46 pm

“Please note that you are not allowed to modify or delete files from compressed archives such as tar.gz or tar.bz2.”

Of course this can be worked around with pipes. An example with an archive made with tar cJf Compress.tar.lzma

xzcat Compress.tar.lzma | tar --delete -O -f - deleteFile.txt | xz - > Compress.tar.lzma

Linux / Unix: Tarball Delete ( remove ) File

Example: Delete a File From a Tar Ball

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