How to create a compressed tar.gz file from a folder or file in Linux?

In order to create a compressed tar.gz archive from a folder/file we need to run the following tar command:

tar -czf new-tar-file-name.tar.gz file-or-folder-to-archive

Here is the command explanation:

• tar – the tar command.
• c – create new archive.
• z – compress the archive using gzip.
• f – use archive file.
• new-tar-file-name.tar.gz – the name of the tar.gz to create.
• file-or-folder-to-archive – the name of the folder we want to archive.

How to create a compressed tar.gz file from multiple files and folders in Linux?

In order to create a compressed tar.gz file from multiple files or/and folders we need to run the same tar command we used when we archived a single file/folder and to append the rest of the files/folders’ names to it.

tar -czf new-tar-file-name.tar.gz file1 file2 folder1 folder2

How to extract a compressed tar.gz file in Linux?

tar -xzf tar-file-name.tar.gz

Here is the command explanation:

• tar – the tar command.
• x – extract the archive.
• z – uncompress the archive using gzip.
• f – use archive file.
• tar-file-name.tar.gz – the name of the tar.gz to create.

The tar command will extract all the files/folders in the archive to the current directory.

How to extract a compressed tar.bz2 file in Linux?

Extracting tar.bz2 (bzip2 file) is very similar to the way you extract tar.gz file. Instead of using the -z flag you need to use the -j flag for the bzip2 format

tar -xjf tar-file-name.tar.gz

Here is the command explanation:

• tar – the tar command.
• x – extract the archive.
• j - filter the archive through bzip2
• f – use archive file.
• tar-file-name.tar.gz – the name of the tar.gz to create.

The tar command will extract all the files/folders in the archive to the current directory.