It is the most widely used command line utility to create compressed archive files packages, source code, databases and so much more that can be transferred easily from machine to another or over a network. Downloading and untarring in one step mr linux june 22, 2007, 3. How to create,extract,compress tar files in linux ubuntu. If you are roaming the open source world, chances are you encounter. How to compress and extract files using the tar command on. The first method we recommend is to install the file through your user directory. Opensource packages are generally available to download in. Linux downloads come in a variety of formats which can be confusing to newcomers. How to download and extract tar files with one command tecmint. In computing, tar is a computer software utility for collecting many files into one archive file. Gz is a special type of archive that is being handled with the help of tar tool. Swiss file knife create zip files, extract zip files, replace text in files, search in files using expressions, strea. This command has a large number of options, but you just need to remember a few letters to quickly create archives with tar.
Most linux distributions and macos comes with tar command. It is a file that acts as a container for other files. The tar program provides the ability to create tar archives, as well as various other kinds of. How to download and extract tar files with one command. Linux tutorial for beginners 10 compress and extract. The compression ratio is also quite good and doesnt require any 3 rdparty tool to handle it. It is often referred to as a tarball and is used for distribution or backup purposes. The tar command can extract the resulting archives, too. For example, you can use tar on previously created archives to. Tar tape archive is a popular file archiving format in linux. These should contain directions on installing and using the downloaded.