tar - Create & Extract

Mastering tar

Everyone forgets tar's flags, so learn them as words:

c = Create · x = eXtract · t = lisT
v = Verbose (show files) · f = File (name comes next) · z = gZip

Tip: Read tar -czf as "Create Zipped File" and tar -xzf as "eXtract Zipped File". That mnemonic ends the confusion forever.

Command	Does
`tar -cvf backup.tar dir/`	Create archive from dir
`tar -czf backup.tar.gz dir/`	Create gzip-compressed archive
`tar -xzf backup.tar.gz`	Extract a gzip tarball
`tar -tzf backup.tar.gz`	List contents without extracting
`tar -xzf f.tgz -C /dest`	Extract into a specific directory

$ tar -czf logs.tar.gz /var/log
$ tar -tzf logs.tar.gz | head -3
var/log/
var/log/syslog
var/log/auth.log

Warning: The f flag must come last among grouped flags because the filename follows it. tar -czf name.tar.gz ✅, but tar -cfz name.tar.gz treats z as the filename. ❌