A .tar.gz
file is a compressed archive that combines two types of files: a .tar
file (Tape Archive) and a .gz
(gzip) compressed file. It is commonly used for packaging multiple files into a single archive and compressing them to save space. Extracting .tar.gz
files is a common task in Linux, and this guide will show you how to do it using the command line.
Basic Syntax for Extracting .tar.gz
Files
To extract a .tar.gz
file, use the tar
command, which stands for tape archive. The basic syntax is:
tar -xzvf archive-name.tar.gz
Here’s what each option means:
- -x: Extract the files from the archive.
- -z: Use
gzip
to decompress the.gz
file. - -v: Verbose output, which lists the files being extracted.
- -f: Specifies the archive file name.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Open Terminal: Press
Ctrl
+Alt
+T
on your keyboard to open the terminal on most Linux systems. - Navigate to the Directory: Change to the directory where your
.tar.gz
file is located using thecd
command:cd /path/to/directory
- Extract the
.tar.gz
File: Run the following command to extract the contents:tar -xzvf archive-name.tar.gz
Replace
archive-name.tar.gz
with the name of your file.
Example:
If you have a file called sample-archive.tar.gz
in your Downloads
folder, you can extract it using:
cd ~/Downloads
tar -xzvf sample-archive.tar.gz
Extracting to a Specific Directory
To extract the contents of a .tar.gz
file into a specific directory, use the -C
option followed by the target directory path:
tar -xzvf archive-name.tar.gz -C /path/to/destination
This command will extract the contents of archive-name.tar.gz
into the specified destination folder.
Example:
If you want to extract sample-archive.tar.gz
into a directory named my-files
in your home folder:
mkdir ~/my-files
tar -xzvf sample-archive.tar.gz -C ~/my-files
Extracting .tar.gz Files Without Verbose Output
If you prefer not to see the list of files being extracted, you can omit the -v
option:
tar -xzf archive-name.tar.gz
This command will still extract the files but without displaying them in the terminal.
Viewing Contents Without Extracting
To list the contents of a .tar.gz
file without extracting them, use the -t
option:
tar -tzvf archive-name.tar.gz
This command shows you the files and directories contained in the archive without extracting them.
Extracting .tar Files (Without .gz Compression)
If you have a .tar
file (without .gz
compression), you can extract it using:
tar -xvf archive-name.tar
The -z
option is not needed since the file is not compressed with gzip
.
Conclusion
Extracting .tar.gz
files using the Linux command line is straightforward with the tar
command. Remember to use the -xzvf
options to extract and view the process, and use -C
to specify a different destination. Whether you’re managing backups, software packages, or other compressed data, mastering these commands will make handling .tar.gz
files much easier.