TAR Files

tar filesTAR files are single files that include many separate files. TAR files can be useful for archiving or transferring of data.

To create a TAR file:

tar -cvf name-of-file.tar file-a file-b directory-a directory-b

creates a tar file called name-of-file.tar from the files file-a file-b
directory-a directory-b


alternatively, the * key can be utilized to save on typing

tar -cvf name.tar *file*

creates a tar file from all files with the text string file in the current directory


To extract a TAR file:

tar -xvf name-of-file.tar

extracts all individual files out of name-of-file.tar