Tar Command in Linux with Examples

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The tar command (short for Tape Archive) is one of the most widely used utilities in Linux for archiving multiple files and directories into a single file (an archive). It’s commonly used for creating backups, consolidating files for distribution, and compressing data to save space. Tar preserves the directory structure and file metadata (permissions, timestamps,… continue reading.
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Seems pretty complicated to use, particularly from the viewpoint of somebody expected to expand a compressed archive. Can it not at least infer the compression type from the file extension or file header?

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That’s a fair point. For example, if you run:
tar -xf archive.tar.gz or tar -xf archive.tar.xz
it will detect the correct decompression method (gzip, xz, etc.) without needing to specify -z or -J.

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