cli-tarHow do I use the Unix tar xvf command to extract files?

The tar xvf command is used to extract files from a tar archive. This command takes the archive file as an argument, and extracts the contents of the archive into the current directory.

Example

tar xvf archive.tar

This command will extract all of the files from the archive.tar file into the current directory.

The parts of the command are as follows:

• tar: The tar command is used to create and manipulate tar archives.
• x: The x flag indicates that the tar command should extract the contents of the archive.
• v: The v flag indicates that the tar command should be verbose, and output the names of the files as they are extracted.
• f: The f flag indicates that the tar command should read the archive from a file.

Helpful links

• GNU Tar Manual
• Tar Command Examples

Edit this code on GitHub