LINUX COMMAND ATLAS · COMMAND GUIDE

Linux tar command

Create or inspect tar archives. This example lists files without extracting them.

GNU Tar

Syntax

Command form

tar MODE [OPTION]... ARCHIVE [FILE]...

Common options

8 options

Option	What it does
`-c, --create`	Create a new archive.
`-x, --extract`	Extract files from an archive.
`-t, --list`	List archive contents without extracting.
`-f, --file=ARCHIVE`	Use the specified archive file.
`-z, --gzip`	Filter the archive through gzip.
`-J, --xz`	Filter the archive through xz.
`-C DIR`	Change to DIR before processing files.
`-v, --verbose`	List processed files.

Usage examples

2 examples

Create or inspect tar archives. This example lists files without extracting them.

tar -tf backup.tar.gz

Create a gzip-compressed archive of a project directory.

tar -czf site-backup.tar.gz -C ./project .

Notes

Inspect untrusted archives before extraction. Options and compression autodetection can vary; archive paths may contain absolute or parent-directory entries.

Read the manual: GNU Tar All commands