I am a new Linux user. How can I create a tar file in Linux operating systems using the command line option?

Introduction: A Linux tarball (“tar.gz” or “tar.bz2” file ) is nothing but a system file format that combines and compresses multiple files. Tarballs are common file format on a Linux operating systems. Tarballs are often use for distribution of software/media or backup purposes. This page shows how to tar a file in Linux using the Linux tar command line option.

Adblock detected 😱

My website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to my visitors. I get it! Ads are annoying but they help keep this website running. It is hard to keep the site running and producing new content when so many people block ads. Please consider donating money to the nixCraft via PayPal/Bitcoin, or become a supporter using Patreon.

How to tar a file in Linux using command line

The procedure is as follows to tar a file in Linux:

1. Open the terminal app in Linux
2. Compress an entire directory by running tar -zcvf file.tar.gz /path/to/dir/ command in Linux
3. Compress a single file by running tar -zcvf file.tar.gz /path/to/filename command in Linux
4. Compress multiple directories file by running tar -zcvf file.tar.gz dir1 dir2 dir3 command in Linux

How to create tar a file in Linux

Say you want to compress an entire directory named /home/vivek/data/:
$ tar -czvf file.tar.gz /home/vivek/data/
To compress multiple directories and files, execute:
$ tar -czvf file.tar.gz /home/vivek/data/ /home/vivek/pics/ /home/vivek/.accounting.db
One can use bzip2 compression instead of gzip by passing the -j option to the tar command:
$ tar -cjvf file.tar.bz2 /home/vivek/data/
Where,

• -c : Create a new archive
• -v : Verbose output
• -f file.tar.gz : Use archive file
• -z : Filter the archive through gzip
• -j : Filter the archive through bzip2

How to exclude directories and files when using tar

You can exclude certain files when creating a tarball. The syntax is:
$ tar -zcvf archive.tar.gz --exclude='dir1' --exclude='regex' dir1
For example, exclude ~/Downloads/ directory:
$ tar -czvf /nfs/backup.tar.gz --exclude="Downloads" /home/vivek/

How do I view files stored in an archive?

Now you have an archive, to list the contents of a tar or tar.gz file using the tar command:
$ tar -ztvf file.tar.gz
$ tar -jtvf file.tar.bz2

How do I extracting an archive?

You can extract an archive or tarball with the tar command. The syntax is:
$ tar -xzvf file.tar.gz
$ tar -xjvf file.tar.bz2
Want to extract the contents of the archive into a specific directory such as /home/vivek/backups/? Try passing the -C DIR option:
$ tar -xzvf my.tar.gz -C /home/vivek/backups/
$ tar -xjvf archive.tar.bz2 -C /tmp/

• -x : Extract files from an archive
• -t : List the contents of an archive
• -v : Verbose output
• -f file.tar.gz : Use archive file
• -C DIR : Change to DIR before performing any operations
• --exclude : Exclude files matching PATTERN/DIR/FILENAME

Conclusion

You learned how to tar a file in Linux using tar command. For more info please tar command help page here.