Using the tar command

Create a compressed tar archive

$ tar -czvf archive.tar.gz ./directory

• -c: Create archive.
• -z: Compress using gzip algorithm.
• -f: Specify filename of archive.
• -v: Verbose (show progress).

Uncompress a tar archive

$ tar -xvf archive.tar.gz

• -x: Extract from archive.
• -f: Specify filename of archive.
• -v: Verbose (show progress).

Extract tar archive to a different directory

$ tar -xvf archive.tar.gz -C ./another-directory

• -C: Changes the directory.

Extract specific files from tar archive

$ tar -xvf archive.tar.gz file1 file2 file3

Extract specific files from tar archive using wildcard

$ tar -xvf archive.tar.gz --wildcards '*.js'

List the content of tar archive

$ tar -tf archive.tar.gz

• -t: List the content.