cli-tarHow do I unpack a tar file in Unix?

In order to unpack a tar file in Unix, you can use the tar command. The command has the following syntax:

tar -xvf file.tar

The -x flag tells tar to extract the files, the -v flag tells tar to list the files as it unpacks them, and the -f flag tells tar which file to unpack.

The command will produce output similar to the following:

x file1
x file2
x file3

The output will list each file as it is unpacked.

Code explanation

• tar: the command used to unpack the tar file
• -x: tells tar to extract the files
• -v: tells tar to list the files as they are unpacked
• -f: tells tar which file to unpack

Helpful links

• Tar Command in Linux

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