In Linux, tar command is the primary utility to create compressed archive files and directories. “tar” stands for tape archive and it is actually archiving file format. The following example will show you how to creating an archive using tar command.
tar option(s) archive_name file_name(s)
| Options | Description |
|---|---|
| A, –catenate, –concatenate | Append tar files to an archive. |
| c, –create | Create a new archive. |
| d, –diff, –compare | Calculate any differences between the archive and the file system. |
| –delete | Delete from the archive. (This function doesn’t work on magnetic tapes). |
| r, –append | Append files to the end of a tar archive. |
| t, –list | List the contents of an archive. |
| –test-label | Test the archive label, and exit. |
| u, –update | Append files, but only those that are newer than the copy in the archive. |
| x, –extract, –get | Extract files from an archive. |
| -v, –verbose | Operate verbosely. |
| -z, –gzip, –gunzip | This option tells tar to read or write archives through gzip, allowing tar to directly operate on several kinds of compressed archives transparently. This option should be used, for example, when operating on files with the extension.tar.gz. |
| -Z, –compress, –uncompress | tar will use the compress program when operating on files. |
How to archive /home/scriptsmy directory :
[root@vps ~]# tar -cvf scriptsmy-07-11-2014.tar /home/scriptsmy
How to archive /home/scriptsmy directory then gunzip it :
[root@vps ~]# tar cvzf scriptsmy-07-11-2014.tar.gz /home/scriptsmy
