tar (create and extract archives) in Linux CLI - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using tar to Create and Extract Archives

📖 Scenario: You have a folder with some important files. You want to bundle them into one archive file to save space or share easily. Later, you want to open that archive to get the files back.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use the tar command to create an archive file from multiple files and then extract the files back from the archive.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a tar archive from multiple files

Use a variable to store the archive file name

Extract files from the tar archive

Display the list of files extracted

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Archiving files into a single file helps in backup, sharing, and saving disk space. The tar command is widely used in Linux systems for these tasks.

💼 Career

Knowing how to create and extract tar archives is essential for system administrators, developers, and anyone working with Linux servers or managing files efficiently.

1

Create sample files

Create three empty files named file1.txt, file2.txt, and file3.txt using the touch command.

Linux CLI

# Create three empty files named file1.txt, file2.txt, and file3.txt
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use touch followed by the file names separated by spaces.

2

Set archive file name variable

Create a variable called archive_name and set it to myfiles.tar.

Linux CLI

touch file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
# Create a variable archive_name and set it to myfiles.tar
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use archive_name=myfiles.tar without spaces around the equals sign.

3

Create the tar archive

Use the tar command with options -cf to create an archive named by $archive_name containing file1.txt, file2.txt, and file3.txt.

Linux CLI

touch file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
archive_name=myfiles.tar
# Create a tar archive named $archive_name with the three files
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use tar -cf $archive_name file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt to create the archive.

4

Extract and list files from the archive

Use the tar command with options -xf to extract files from $archive_name. Then use ls to list the extracted files.

Linux CLI

touch file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
archive_name=myfiles.tar
tar -cf $archive_name file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
# Extract files from $archive_name and list them
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use tar -xf $archive_name to extract and ls file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt to list the files.