How to write a 'tar' command

I remember it like this:
tar -extract ze file
and
tar -compress ze file

I hope whoever thought -l should mean "check links" instead of list has a special place in Hell set aside for them.

I have no idea what print a message if not all links are dumped even means.

No no it's this:

1. Decide you've gotta use tar.

2. man tar

3. Guess-and-check the flags until it seems to work.

4. Immediately forget the flags.

Xtract Ze Vucking File!

Ah yes, that's the linux community as I know it. There is one thing someone wants to achieve and dozens of ways to do it. ;)

Those are straightforward; it's the remaining 900 options that are confusing. I always need to look up --excludes and always get --directory wrong, somehow.

You also don't need the dash for the short options.

Also, if you're compressing with bzip2 and have archives bigger than a few megabytes I'll like you a lot more if you do it with --use-compress-prog=pbzip2

Why when explaining, giving examples of shell command are people so often providing shortened arguments. It makes it all seam like some random letters you have to remeber by heart. Instead of -x just write --extract. If in the end they endup using the tool so often they need to write it fast they'll check the shortcuts.

Or just use long-forms like

tar --create --file pics.tar ./pics

instead of

tar -cf pics.tar ./pics

or

tar --extract --file pics.tar```
instead of

tar -xf pics.tar

which is honestly way easier to remember... \^\^

I don't think tar is actually hard, we are just in the time where we externalize more information into resources such as Google. Its the same reason why younger people don't remember routes by name or cardinal direction as much anymore.

side note: $ tldr is much better than man for just getting common stuff done.

The “-“ is often not necessary. I use it as a guide to see how long the person running tar has been using it.

Example:

tar -xf file.tar == tar xf file.tar

I have to Google for this everytime. What I can never remember is how to check whether I should put my tar.gz into the subfolder first or risk getting a thousand files sprayed into my homedir.

I know the basics off by heart. Not the hardest command syntax to learn all things considered.

The most annoying would be the growing collection of "uber commands" which are much more of a pain in the ass - aws, systemctl, docker, kubectl, npm, cargo, etc. - the executable has potentially dozens of subcommands, each of which has dozens of parameters.

I always just use

"eXtract Zee Files"

just now realizing that .tar files aren't compressed by default, and that that's the reason why it's always .tar.gz

Yes, that's all very well, but you'll still need to find that image the next time you want to use it.

Simple:

tar -(whatever options you want here, my go to is xvzf or cvzf) archive-name.tar file/folder-to-compress

As a mnemonic I usually read the "f" as "fucking":

• tar, compress fucking pics.tar.gz with junk from ./pics
• tar, extract fucking pics.tar.gz

That's only for scripting though. Most of the time I simply right-click the directory or archive, and let Engrampa deal with it.

What is "listing"?

Just use Ouch!

dtrx is the way to do it. It's short for "do the right extraction", and it just works.

Also, all you have to remember for tar is "-xtract -zee -vucking -files" (extract the fucking files, but first letters only)

Man page for dummies. Nice! I like it!

Thank you, I still don't understand.

I usually just use tar -xvf {file} -- I like the verbosity when extracting just so I know it actually is doing things.

I use Linux for years and still Google every time I have to use it!

Just add -a for auto compression.

^r tar and adjust as needed. Got it

I just have pack and extract functions in my shell RC files that look at file extensions and use the proper tool with proper arguments.

Wrote them 10 years ago and they've worked flawlessly ever since!

I didn't know about auto-compress, thanks!

My tar command is tldr tar then ctrl + c / ctrl + v

i leave off the dash ;)

I personally just use tldr to figure out how it's done.

Saved this. Just like I did for tens of tar cheat sheets before. No, I won't remember it exists when I'll need to use tar. I will google it. I'll read that Stack Overflow page again. I will not enjoy it.

T_T

I'll keep using TLDR, best cli command ever.

tar, please eXtract the Vucking File!

tar -xvf tarbomb.tar.

I've written a CLI tool in Rust as a front end to tar with gzip called Targez.

It can definitely just be done with an alias instead, but you can give it a try if you prefer something installable.

I just use atool (archive tool) instead. It works the same for any common compression format (tar, gzip, zip, 7zip, rar, etc) and comes with handy aliases like apack and aunpack obsoleting the need to memorize options.

I would also recommend -v for verbose and -z when compressing for gzip

What does --auto-compress do?

That looks really cool. And finally a guide that knows -z is not necessary all the time.

Damn, I'm using the "tape archiver" (this is what tar means) since I installed HPUX8 in the 90s, from tape, yes...

I always use tldr for these things, super handy to have.

OMG always assumed that -c always stands for "compress" and I always placed .gz at the end to remember to place -x when extracting

Or -I 'compress-command' -cf ... if not supported.

Nowaday I have ChatGPT spew me command. I usually do a quick validation before running. Nevertheless, most of simple operations are correct so I don't need to.

I then note the command to my persional gist cheatsheet. Next time, since the command is "cached", I'll be able to be productive quicker.

So much better than googling.

So a serious question from someone who can't remember console commands ever despite using them constantly.

Why are so many linux CLI commands set up with defaults that no one ever uses? Like if you pretty much always need -f, -v is often used, and --auto-compress is needed to recognize type by extension. Why aren't those the defaults to just using tar?

A lot of applications I find are like this too, they don't come with defaults that work or that anyone would ever use.

daily-standup.png eh... :)

Who is taking pics of the standup.. :)

Do more like this (・へ・)

Check out atool

great, now how do I use it together with the 'feather' command?

Don't you have to specify the compression algorithm when extracting? I always use tar -xzf for gzip files and if I remove -z it just fails.

tar is just the worst shell command in existence. Why do people still bother with it?