tar -xvf does everything?

nilsHaus · 2008-06-09 03:06:40

It doesn't matter whether things are .tar, .tar.bz, .tar.gz2, it seems like whenever I do tar -xvf it just does it for me. On the one hand this rocks, but on the other hand this contradicts everything on the internet and the man pages...So what does tar -xvf do?

shazeal · 2008-06-09 03:10:30

Saves one second of your life everytime you unpack something?

It just auto detects the format.

Stythys · 2008-06-09 03:31:39

really? I have to use -xf for tar, -xzf for tar.gz, and -xjf for tar.bz2 =P

Last edited by Stythys (2008-06-09 03:32:05)

peets · 2008-06-09 03:36:13

cool, I didn't know this. I always did "tar xzf" or "tar xjf"... It might be in the "info pages"

underpenguin · 2008-06-09 04:46:34

Wow. I also have been -xzvf-ing and -xjvf-ing for years. You learn something new every day. Thanks

delor · 2008-06-09 06:30:42

I have just put this in .bashrc

# extract archives -- usage: extract <file>
extract () {
    if [ -f $1 ] ; then
        case $1 in
            *.tar.bz2) tar xjf $1 ;;
            *.tar.gz) tar xzf $1 ;;
            *.bz2) bunzip2 $1 ;;
            *.rar) unrar e $1 ;;
            *.gz) gunzip $1 ;;
            *.tar) tar xf $1 ;;
            *.tbz2) tar xjf $1 ;;
            *.tgz) tar xzf $1 ;;
            *.zip) unzip "$1" ;;
            *.Z) uncompress $1 ;;
            *.7z) 7z x $1 ;;
            *) echo "'$1' cannot be extracted via extract()" ;;
        esac
    else
        echo "'$1' is not a valid file"
    fi
}

sniffles · 2008-06-09 07:04:48

What the heck, when did this happen?

nilsHaus · 2008-06-09 20:48:36

Yeah, I guess this is pretty cool. So is anything in xvf unnecessary? What does f do?

Misfit138 · 2008-06-09 20:54:13

nilsHaus wrote:

Yeah, I guess this is pretty cool. So is anything in xvf unnecessary? What does f do?

It tells 'tar' that you are extracting a 'f'ile.
Check out the tar man page for more.

shazeal · 2008-06-09 22:04:33

You can just tar xf if you want, v is verbose. f just tells it you are giving it a file to extract.

gazj · 2008-06-09 22:48:20

I have always done xf or xvf, must be for a couple of years (or even more) I guess. Never knew there were switches for different archive types. Now I feel like a real newb

pauldonnelly · 2008-06-10 00:46:41

I was surprised too when I found out it autodetects.

nilsHaus · 2008-06-10 03:06:19

Should I be worried if tar doesn't have a man page (I would've looked there before wasting your time, Misfit)?

Allan · 2008-06-10 03:16:57

nilsHaus wrote:

Should I be worried if tar doesn't have a man page

There is one... Check that you have merged /etc/profile.pacnew.

anykey · 2008-06-10 09:52:16

this is GNU tar and bsdtar only. Other tars won't necessarily do it.

timetrap · 2008-06-11 17:17:14

I weep for all of those wasted j's and z's that have been typed in vain.

elasticdog · 2008-06-11 21:46:32

man...I didn't know that either. I feel like such an old-timer!

.:B:. · 2008-06-12 00:41:15

shazeal wrote:

Saves one second of your life everytime you unpack something?
It just auto detects the format.

If it matches what's in it .

I don't know what the - is for (GNU tar doesn't really need it afaik, maybe for compatibility reasons), tar xf should be plenty most of the time.

Last edited by B (2008-06-12 00:42:11)

onguarde · 2009-01-08 16:26:16

delor wrote:

I have just put this in .bashrc

# extract archives -- usage: extract <file>
extract () {
    if [ -f $1 ] ; then
        case $1 in
            *.tar.bz2) tar xjf $1 ;;
            *.tar.gz) tar xzf $1 ;;
            *.bz2) bunzip2 $1 ;;
            *.rar) unrar e $1 ;;
            *.gz) gunzip $1 ;;
            *.tar) tar xf $1 ;;
            *.tbz2) tar xjf $1 ;;
            *.tgz) tar xzf $1 ;;
            *.zip) unzip "$1" ;;
            *.Z) uncompress $1 ;;
            *.7z) 7z x $1 ;;
            *) echo "'$1' cannot be extracted via extract()" ;;
        esac
    else
        echo "'$1' is not a valid file"
    fi
}

I keep getting the error below when the above is pasted in .bashrc.

bash: /home/xslash/.bashrc: line 110: syntax error near unexpected token `}'
bash: /home/xslash/.bashrc: line 110: `}'

The weird thing is I can't find anything different from the above. Would deeply appreciate if someone could enlighten me.

Thanks.

Procyon · 2009-01-08 17:20:46

onguarde: why not try atool?

It is basically a fleshed out version but with more features and it protects against tar bombs.

userlander · 2009-01-08 19:27:16

hooray! seriously, I hated having to check my brain against the extension every time. Now I just have to retrain my fingers.

.:B:. · 2009-01-09 13:12:08

shazeal wrote:

You can just tar xf if you want, v is verbose. f just tells it you are giving it a file to extract.

+1

I always use

tar xf $archive

The thing is, a lot of Linux/UNIX apps check the first bytes of a file (the header). That is what e.g. the 'file' utility does. Tar does probably the same, so it does not need you to determine what type of file it is . As is said often, extensions are for humans (and Windows ).

Arch Linux

#1 2008-06-09 03:06:40

tar -xvf does everything?

#2 2008-06-09 03:10:30

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#3 2008-06-09 03:31:39

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#4 2008-06-09 03:36:13

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#5 2008-06-09 04:46:34

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#6 2008-06-09 06:30:42

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#7 2008-06-09 07:04:48

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#8 2008-06-09 20:48:36

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#9 2008-06-09 20:54:13

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#10 2008-06-09 22:04:33

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#11 2008-06-09 22:48:20

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#12 2008-06-10 00:46:41

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#13 2008-06-10 03:06:19

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#14 2008-06-10 03:16:57

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#15 2008-06-10 09:52:16

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#16 2008-06-11 17:17:14

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#17 2008-06-11 21:46:32

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#18 2008-06-12 00:41:15

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#19 2009-01-08 16:26:16

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#20 2009-01-08 17:20:46

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#21 2009-01-08 19:27:16

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

#22 2009-01-09 13:12:08

Re: tar -xvf does everything?

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