cli-tarHow can I get the best compression when using tar and gzip?

The best compression when using tar and gzip can be achieved by using the -9 flag. This flag will enable maximum compression. The example code below shows how to use the -9 flag:

tar -czvf archive.tar.gz -9 file1 file2

The -c flag tells the tar command to create an archive, -z tells it to compress the archive using gzip, -v is for verbose output and -f specifies the filename of the resulting archive. The -9 flag enables maximum compression.

Code explanation

• -c: Create an archive
• -z: Compress the archive using gzip
• -v: Verbose output
• -f: Specify the filename of the resulting archive
• -9: Enable maximum compression

For further information, please refer to the following resources:

• GNU tar Manual
• Linux tar command

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