tar Cheat Sheet

tar -czf archive.tar.gz dir/        # create gzip archive
tar -xf archive.tar.gz              # extract (compression auto-detected)
tar -xf archive.tar.gz -C /opt      # extract into another directory
tar -tf archive.tar.gz              # list contents
tar -caf archive.tar.zst dir/       # pick compression from the file extension
tar -xf archive.tar.gz path/in/archive.txt   # extract one file

Memory aid: create, extract, list, always with f followed by the archive file name. Add v for verbose output and a compression letter when creating. Dashes are optional for the bundled short form (tar czf works), but the examples here use them for clarity.

Create archives

Extract archives

List, compare and update

Selecting and excluding files

Common recipes

Back up /etc with a date in the file name:

sudo tar -czpf "etc-$(date +%F).tar.gz" -C / etc

Back up a home directory without caches and trash (for incremental backups, rsync is often better: see backup home with rsync):

tar --zstd -cpf "home-$(date +%F).tar.zst" \
    --exclude='.cache' --exclude='.local/share/Trash' \
    -C /home "$USER"

Copy a directory tree to another machine over SSH without a temporary file:

tar -czf - -C /srv data | ssh user@server 'tar -xzf - -C /srv'

Download and extract a release tarball in one step, dropping its top-level folder:

mkdir -p ~/apps/tool
curl -fsSL https://example.org/tool-1.2.3.tar.gz | tar -xzf - -C ~/apps/tool --strip-components=1

Look before you extract, to avoid a tarball that spills files everywhere:

tar -tf unknown.tar.gz | head
tar -tf unknown.tar.gz | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u

Split a large archive into 2 GiB parts and join them again:

tar -czf - bigdir/ | split -b 2G - bigdir.tar.gz.part-
cat bigdir.tar.gz.part-* | tar -xzf -

Archive only files found by find, safely with odd names:

find . -name '*.pdf' -print0 | tar --null -T - -czf pdfs.tar.gz

Show progress on a big archive (needs pv):

tar -cf - bigdir/ | pv -s "$(du -sb bigdir | cut -f1)" | zstd -T0 > bigdir.tar.zst

Gotchas

• f takes the next argument. In bundled options the file name follows the f: tar -czf out.tar.gz dir/. Writing tar -cfz out.tar.gz dir/ creates an archive named z containing out.tar.gz (if it exists) and dir/. Keep f last in the bundle.
• Archive first, sources after. tar -czf dir/ backup.tar.gz tries to write the archive to dir/. The order is always archive name, then what to put in it.
• Exclude before the path. Put --exclude options before the directory you archive; some tar versions ignore them when placed after, and patterns are matched against archive paths, not absolute paths.
• Leading slashes are removed. tar -czf a.tgz /etc prints "Removing leading '/' from member names" and stores etc/..., so extracting never overwrites system files by accident. Use -C / to silence it.
• Extracting overwrites without asking. Files with the same name in the target directory are replaced. List first with -t, extract into an empty directory, or add -k.
• Compression flags on extraction are optional in GNU tar, but the matching tool must be installed (xz, zstd, bzip2). "Cannot exec" errors usually mean the compressor is missing.
• Ownership and permissions. As a normal user, files are extracted as you, with your umask applied. As root, tar restores the stored owners. Use -p when creating and restoring backups.
• Watch disk space. Extracting a big archive can fill the disk; see No space left on device. Check sizes first with tar -tvf or gzip -l.

Reference: the GNU tar manual.

Frequently asked questions