Extract files from a .tar.gz file

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Revision as of 17:36, 9 April 2007

Extract files from a .tar.gz file

A .tar.gz file that contains a bundle of files packaged by tar utility and then compressed by gzip program, therefore basically two steps are required to restore such a file:

1) uncompress it use gzip of gunzip:

gzip -d File_Name.tar.gz or gunzip File_Name.tar.gz This will make the file File_Name.tar.gz replaced by a uncompressed File_Name.tar file.

2) Unpackage the .tar file:

tar -xvf File_Name.tar You can combine the two steps together by:

gzip -dc File_Name.tar.gz | tar -xvf - or gunzip -c File_Name.tar.gz | tar -xvf - (The "-" after the "tar -xvf" is to tell tar to read from the standard input.)

Our Solaris system has a gtar program available. With gtar, users can specify a -z option to tell gtar to zip or unzip the target file thus makes it possible to handle a .tar.gz file truely in a single step:

To create a .tar.gz file using gtar:

gtar -czvf File_Name.tar.gz File1 File2 File3 ... This will pack File1, File2, File3 and other files on the list and compress them to create a File_Name.tar.gz file. To extract files from a .tar.gz file: .

gtar -xzvf File_Name.tar.gz This will uncompress and unpack File_Name.tar.gz