my-docs/Linux/Basic Administration/11-tar.md

📦 Linux Compression & Archiving Cheatsheet

🔧 Tar Command Basics

The tar command is used to create, extract, and manage archive files.

Syntax:

tar [options] [archive_name.tar] [file(s)/directory]

🛠 Create a .tar Archive

tar -cf archive_file.tar file1 file2 dir1

• -c: Create a new archive
• -f: Specify the archive file name

🛠 Create with Verbose Output

tar -cvf archive_file.tar file1 file2 dir1

• -v: Verbose mode (shows progress)

📂 Extract a .tar Archive

tar -xf archive_file.tar

tar -xvf archive_file.tar

• -x: Extract files

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🗜 Gzip Compression

Gzip (GNU zip) is a fast, commonly used compression tool.

🔧 Create .tar.gz Archive

tar -czf archive_file.tar.gz file1 file2 dir1

• -z: Compress using gzip

🔧 Verbose Creation

tar -czvf archive_file.tar.gz file1 file2 dir1

📂 Extract .tar.gz

tar -xzf archive_file.tar.gz

tar -xzvf archive_file.tar.gz

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🗜 Bzip2 Compression

Bzip2 offers better compression than gzip but is slower.

🔧 Create .tar.bz2 Archive

tar -cjf archive_file.tar.bz2 file1 file2 dir1

• -j: Compress using bzip2

🔧 Verbose Creation

tar -cjvf archive_file.tar.bz2 file1 file2 dir1

📂 Extract .tar.bz2

tar -xjf archive_file.tar.bz2

tar -xjvf archive_file.tar.bz2

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🗜 XZ Compression

XZ provides the best compression ratios but is the slowest.

🔧 Create .tar.xz Archive

tar -cJf archive_file.tar.xz file1 file2 dir1

• -J: Compress using xz

🔧 Verbose Creation

tar -cJvf archive_file.tar.xz file1 file2 dir1

📂 Extract .tar.xz

tar -xJf archive_file.tar.xz

tar -xJvf archive_file.tar.xz

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📊 Compression Format Comparison

Feature	gzip	bzip2	xz
Compression Speed	Fast	Slow	Slowest
Decompression Speed	Fast	Slower	Moderate
Compression Ratio	Good	Better	Best
File Extension	.tar.gz	.tar.bz2	.tar.xz
Common Use	Web, general	Backups	Archival