Opening a TAR File

2 min read
25 September 2022


The TAR file format is the basis for all compression and file archiving formats available today. However, in the present it can be difficult to use and extract. If someone has sent you a TAR-file, there's a good chance that you'll double click the file and sit for at most several seconds before looking at your monitor, trying to figure out what's wrong and why it's not working.



A TAR file is opened by default on the UNIX system. The application 'tar' ought to be something you must remember when dealing with TAR files. When extracting a file from tar, we use the syntax "tar xfname.tar" where "name.tar” is the name of the file for your TAR archive. "tar" obviously is the application we use to open the TAR file. "xf" is "extract file" with "f" which refers to the next parameter as the name of the file in the TAR file.



If you would like to look at the files in the archive first then replace "xf" by "tf". The tf means command creates an index of contents that enables you to view the files first before extraction. You can make use of the "xvf command to display every file in accordance with its content prior to extracting them.
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It is simple to open files in Windows. You just download the needed software from the internet. Many decompression programs can cater to TAR file extraction. These applications are more user-friendly than the command line system used by UNIX. These programs provide an overview of the files inside, which makes it easier and more intuitive to use.



An online service can compress your TAR file to make it suitable for Windows users. All you have to do is to upload the TAR file to their server (the website will give you instructions on how to do this) and then wait for the server to process your files and then download them as uncompressed files.



This website explains how you can extract TAR files.

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