tar (create and extract archives) in Linux CLI - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this tar command?

You run the command tar -cf archive.tar file1.txt file2.txt in a directory containing file1.txt and file2.txt. What does the command do?

Linux CLI

tar -cf archive.tar file1.txt file2.txt

A Creates a compressed archive named archive.tar.gz containing file1.txt and file2.txt

B Creates an uncompressed archive named archive.tar containing file1.txt and file2.txt

C Extracts files from archive.tar into the current directory

D Lists the contents of archive.tar without extracting

💡 Hint

The -c option means create, and -f specifies the archive file name.

The command creates an uncompressed archive named archive.tar containing the specified files. It does not compress or extract files.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What does this command output?

You run tar -tf archive.tar. What is the output?

Linux CLI

tar -tf archive.tar

A Lists the names of files inside archive.tar

B Extracts all files from archive.tar

C Creates a new archive named archive.tar

D Deletes archive.tar

💡 Hint

The -t option lists contents without extracting.

The -t option lists the files inside the archive without extracting them.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this tar extraction command fail?

You run tar -xf archive.tar.gz but get an error saying 'Cannot open: Not in gzip format'. What is the problem?

Linux CLI

tar -xf archive.tar.gz

A The archive is not compressed with gzip, so -z option is missing

B The archive file does not exist

C The archive is corrupted

D The -x option is invalid for extraction

💡 Hint

Check if the archive is compressed and if the correct option is used.

The -z option tells tar to decompress gzip archives. Without it, tar treats the file as uncompressed and fails if it is compressed.

🚀 Application

advanced

How to create a compressed archive with tar?

You want to create a gzip compressed archive named backup.tar.gz containing the directory project. Which command achieves this?

A tar -cf backup.tar.gz project

B tar -tf backup.tar.gz project

C tar -xf backup.tar.gz project

D tar -czf backup.tar.gz project

💡 Hint

Use the option that compresses with gzip while creating.

The -z option compresses with gzip. The -c option creates the archive, and -f specifies the filename.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

What is the effect of this tar command?

What does the command tar --exclude='*.log' -czf archive.tar.gz /var/logs do?

A Extracts files from archive.tar.gz excluding .log files

B Creates a gzip compressed archive of /var/logs including all files

C Creates a gzip compressed archive of /var/logs excluding files ending with .log

D Lists files in /var/logs excluding .log files

💡 Hint

The --exclude option skips files matching the pattern during archive creation.

The command creates a gzip compressed archive of /var/logs but skips all files ending with .log.