Create and extract tar.gz and tar.bz2 files on ubuntu linux

The most common compressed archive file format in Linux is the tar.gz format. Tar file is an archive file format. Tar.gz is a compressed tar file.

Create tar.gz archives

The tar command can be used to create tar.gz archives.

tar czf new-tar-file-name.tar.gz file-or-folder-to-archive

Here is the command explanation:

c - create new archive.
z - compress the archive using gzip.
f - use archive file.
new-tar-file-name.tar.gz - the name of the tar.gz to create.
file-or-folder-to-archive - the name of the folder we want to archive.

Adding multiple directories

tar -czf new-tar-file-name.tar.gz file1 file2 folder1 folder2

Extract tar archives

gz archives

tar -xzf tar-file-name.tar.gz

Here is the command explanation:

x - extract the archive.
z - uncompress the archive using gzip.
f - use archive file.
tar-file-name.tar.gz - the name of the tar.gz to create.

The tar command will extract all the files/folders in the archive to the current directory. To extract to specific location modify the command as follows

tar -xzf tar-file-name.tar.gz /path/to/location

bz2 archives

Extracting tar.bz2 (bzip2 file) is very similar to the way you extract tar.gz file. Instead of using the -z flag you need to use the -j flag for the bzip2 format

tar -xvjf tar-file-name.tar.gz

Here is the command explanation:

x - extract the archive.
v - verbose. show information as files are being extracted.
j - filter the archive through bzip2
f - use archive file.
tar-file-name.tar.gz - the name of the tar.gz to create.

The tar command will extract all the files/folders in the archive to the current directory.