In computing, tar is a computer software utility for collecting many files into one archive file, often referred to as a tarball, for distribution or backup purposes. The name is derived from "tape archive", as it was originally developed to write data to sequential I/O devices with no file system of their own. The archive data sets created by tar contain various file system parameters, such as name, timestamps, ownership, file-access permissions, and directory organization. POSIX abandoned tar in favor of pax, yet tar sees continued widespread use.

TAR Command Used Options

All the options that are available with the TAR command, you can run the following command:

$ tar --help

Options available with the TAR command are shown in the following image:

Examples of Using the TAR Command

Following are a few examples that will help you out in using the TAR command in an effective manner:

Example 1: Compress Multiple Files into a TAR File

In this example, we compress the multiple text files into a single TAR file. For that, we run the following command:

$ tar –czvf files.tar.gz file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt

This command creates a TAR file named “files.tar.gz” and adds the text files named “file1.txt”, “file2.txt”, and “file3.txt” to this TAR file.

Example 2: View the Contents of a TAR File

You can also display the contents of a TAR file by running the following command:

$ tar –tf files.tar.gz

Example 3: Add Another File to a TAR File

In this example, we add a text file to an already existing TAR file. For that, we use the following command:

$ tar –rvf files.tar file4.txt

If the name of the file to be added appears in the output, it means that the specified file has been successfully added to the TAR file.

Example 4: Remove a File from a TAR File

In this example, we attempt to remove a file from a TAR file. For that, we use the following command:

$ tar --delete –f files.tar file4.txt

This command removes the file named “file4.txt” from our TAR file.