How to Use the Tar Command

The most common way to deliver a batch of files from a Linux system is by using the “tar” command. When you tar a directory you can easily roll up a group of files. This eases the delivery of a group of files in precession intensive applications such as the File Transfer Protocol and Peer-to-peer applications, as well as simply archiving.

Step1 Open up a terminal session on your Linux pc. This can be done by clicking on the terminal icon at the bottom bar, or clicking on the home button and looking for “Xterm”.

Step2 Once in the terminal type “tar -cf”; do not press enter. The “c” indicates that you are creating a tar file, and the “f” indicates that the tar is to be given the name you specify.

Step3 Press space and type in the full name (with extension) you want for the file. If you’re tarballing pictures for example, you might want to type “pictures.tar”.

Step4 Press space and enter the path of the directory. Remember that the path should be relative to the location you’re issuing the command from. For example, if the full path of the directory is “hdd0\home\user\pictures”, and you issued the command from the “user” directory, then you’d simply have to put “pictures\” in this area.

Step5 Press Enter to complete the tar of the directory. Make sure all your commands are accurate before pressing Enter.