Using Tar and Bzip2 To Archive and Backup

The tar command in Bash is commonly used to create archives of files and directories. It can compress or just archive the data, and it supports several formats such as .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .tar.xz, etc.

Here's a breakdown of how you can use tar for various purposes:

1. Creating an Archive (without compression)

To create a .tar archive from files or directories:

tar -cvf archive_name.tar /path/to/directory_or_file

• -c: Create a new archive
• -v: Verbose mode (optional, shows the progress)
• -f: Specify the name of the archive

Example:

tar -cvf backup.tar /home/user/documents

This will create an archive backup.tar containing the contents of the /home/user/documents directory.

2. Creating a Compressed Archive

You can compress the archive using different compression algorithms:

a. With gzip (creates a .tar.gz or .tgz file):

tar -czvf archive_name.tar.gz /path/to/directory_or_file

• -z: Compress with gzip

Example:

tar -czvf backup.tar.gz /home/user/documents

b. With bzip2 (creates a .tar.bz2 file):

tar -cjvf archive_name.tar.bz2 /path/to/directory_or_file

• -j: Compress with bzip2

Example:

tar -cjvf backup.tar.bz2 /home/user/documents

c. With xz (creates a .tar.xz file):

tar -cJvf archive_name.tar.xz /path/to/directory_or_file

• -J: Compress with xz

Example:

tar -cJvf backup.tar.xz /home/user/documents

3. Extracting an Archive

To extract files from a .tar archive:

tar -xvf archive_name.tar

For compressed archives, replace .tar with the appropriate extension (e.g., .tar.gz, .tar.bz2).

Extracting .tar.gz:

tar -xzvf archive_name.tar.gz

Extracting .tar.bz2:

tar -xjvf archive_name.tar.bz2

Extracting .tar.xz:

tar -xJvf archive_name.tar.xz

4. Listing the Contents of an Archive

To see the contents of a .tar file without extracting it:

tar -tvf archive_name.tar

For compressed files, you can use the same command but replace the extension appropriately.

5. Extracting to a Specific Directory

If you want to extract files to a specific directory, use the -C option:

tar -xvf archive_name.tar -C /path/to/extract/directory

6. Adding Files to an Existing Archive

To add files or directories to an existing archive:

tar -rvf archive_name.tar /path/to/new_file_or_directory

• -r: Append files to an archive

7. Excluding Files from an Archive

To exclude specific files or directories while archiving:

tar -cvf archive_name.tar --exclude='*.log' /path/to/directory

This command excludes all .log files from the archive.

8. Extracting Specific Files from an Archive

To extract a specific file from an archive:

tar -xvf archive_name.tar path/to/file_within_archive

This will extract only the specified file from the archive.

Summary of Useful tar Options:

• -c: Create an archive
• -x: Extract an archive
• -v: Verbose output
• -f: Specify the archive file name
• -z: Compress using gzip
• -j: Compress using bzip2
• -J: Compress using xz
• -C: Extract to a specific directory
• --exclude: Exclude specific files or directories
• -r: Append files to an existing archive
• -t: List contents of an archive

These are some of the common usages of tar to archive and compress files in Bash.