Linux Commands - Packaged and Compressed Files

Here is a compilation of the most useful Linux commands on Packaged and Compressed Files

TAR Files

#show contents of tar file
tar -tf archive.tar


#create tar file
tar -cvf file.tar directory1


#create tar file composed of multiple files and directories
tar -cvf file.tar file1 file2 directory1


#create bzip2 compressed tar file
tar -cvfj file.tar.bz2


#create gzip compressed tar file
tar -cvfz file.tar.gz directory1


#extract tar file 
tar -xvf file.tar


#extract tar file to directory
tar -xvf file.tar -C /directory


#extract tar file while preserving user permissions
tar -xpvzf file.tar


#decompress bzip2 compressed tar file
tar -xvfj file.tar.bz2


#decompress gzip compressed tar file
tar -xvfz file.tar.gz

ZIP Files

#create a zip compressed file
zip file.zip directory1


#compress zip file composed of multiple files and directories
zip -r file.zip file1 file2 directory1 


#decompress a zip file
unzip file.zip

BZ2 Files

#compress bz2 file
bzip2 file


#decompress bz2 file
bunzip2 file.bz2

GZ Files

#compress gz file
gzip file


#decompress gz file
gunzip file.gz


#decompress gz file with maximum compression
gzip -9 file

RAR Files

#create rar file
rar a file.rar directory1


#create zip file composed of multiple files and directories
rar a file.rar file1 file2 directory1


#decompress rar file
unrar x file.rar