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.

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. ;)

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.

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

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.

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.

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... \^\^

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.

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

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

Just use Ouch!

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

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.

Man page for dummies. Nice! I like it!

Thank you, I still don't understand.

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)

What is "listing"?

i leave off the dash ;)

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

tar, please eXtract the Vucking File!

tar -xvf tarbomb.tar.

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

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

What does --auto-compress do?

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.

Do more like this (・へ・)

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Check out atool

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.

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.