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How to Extract Tar Files to Speci c or Different

Directory in Linux
Aaron Kili Last Updated: July 17, 2017 Linux Commands 12 Comments

The tar utility is one of the utilities that you can use to create a backup on a Linux system. It includes many
options that one can use to specify the task to achieve.

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Extract Linux Tar Files Different or New Directory

One thing to understand is that you can extract tar les to a different or speci c directory, not necessarily the
current working directory. You can read more about tar backup utility with many different examples in the
following article, before proceeding further with this article.

Mastering tar Command with this 18 Examples in Linux

In this guide, we shall take a look at how to extract tar les to a speci c or different directory, where you want
the les to reside.

The general syntax of tar utility for extracting les:

# tar -xf file_name.tar -C /target/directory

# tar -xf file_name.tar.gz --directory /target/directory

Note: In the above rst syntax, the -C option is used to specify a different directory other than the current
working directory.

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Let us now look at some examples below. Certi cation Study Guide [eBooks]

Example 1: Extracting tar Files to a Speci c Directory

Linux Commands and Tools
In the rst example, I will extract the les in articles.tar to a directory /tmp/my_article . Always make sure
that the directory into which you want to extract tar le exists. 10 Useful “IP” Commands to
Con gure Network Interfaces
Let me start by creating the /tmp/my_article directory using the command below:
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Search Wikipedia in Linux
# mkdir /tmp/my_article
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You can include the -p option to the above command so that the command does not complain.
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Downloading with Wget in Linux
To extract the les in articles.tar to /tmp/my_article , I will run the command bellow:
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Modi ed) Commands for Package
# tar -xvf articles.tar -C /tmp/my_article/
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Img 01: Extract Tar Files to Different Directory

In the above example I used the -v option to monitor the progress of the tar extraction.

Let me also use the --directory option instead of -c for the example above. It works just in the same
way.

# tar -xvf articles.tar --directory /tmp/my_articles/

Img 02: Extract Tar Files to Speci c Directory

Example 2: Extract .tar.gz or .tgz Files to Different Directory

First make sure that you create the speci c directory that you want to extract into by using:

# mkdir -p /tmp/tgz

Now we will extract the contents of documents.tgz le to separate /tmp/tgz/ directory.

# tar -zvxf documents.tgz -C /tmp/tgz/

Img 03: Extract tar.gz or .tgz Files to Different Directory

Example 3: Extract tar.bz2, .tar.bz, .tbz or .tbz2 Files to

Different Directory
Again repeating that you must create a separate directory before unpacking les:

# mkdir -p /tmp/tar.bz2

Now we will be unpacking the documents.tbz2 les to /tmp/tar.bz2/ directory.

# tar -jvxf documents.tbz2 -C /tmp/tar.bz2/

Img 04: Extract tar.bz2 Files to Different Directory

Example 4: Extract Only Speci c or Selected Files from Tar

Archive
The tar utility also allows you to de ne the les that you want to only extract from a .tar le. In the next
example, I will extract speci c les out of a tar le to a speci c directory as follows:

# mkdir /backup/tar_extracts
# tar -xvf etc.tar etc/issue etc/fuse.conf etc/mysql/ -C /backup/tar_extracts/

Img 05: Extract Speci c Files From Tar Archive

Summary
That is it with extracting tar les to a speci c directory and also extracting speci c les from a tar le. If you
nd this guide helpful or have more information or additional ideas, you can give me a feedback by posting a
comment.

Linux Tricks , Tar Command Examples

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12 thoughts on “How to Extract Tar Files to Speci c or

Different Directory in Linux”

Pascal
April 16, 2021 at 10:42 am

Great article.

Just to note that “Example 4: Extract Only Speci c or Selected Files from Tar Archive” is the wrong
syntax.

The order of the arguments has to be changed. The single les or directories to be extracted need to
be last:

It shall read

# tar -xvf etc.tar -C /backup/tar_extracts/ etc/issue etc/fuse.conf etc/mysql/

reference: https://stackover ow.com/a/9249779

Reply

SHIVANI UMEACADEMY. COM

February 7, 2019 at 3:52 pm

Your blog is very good, your blog has great information, your content is also very good, your blog has
got a lot of help.

Reply

Aaron Kili
February 10, 2019 at 2:29 pm

@SHIVANI

I would like you to know that we are pleased to have read your beautiful and kind note of
appreciation and encouragement.

Reply

Jalal Hajigholamali
January 6, 2016 at 12:22 pm

Hi,
tar command accepts options without minus[-] sign
also ‘-j’ option is optional and can be ignore….
example:
tar xvf …..
Thanks a lot

Reply

Aaron Kili
January 9, 2016 at 3:48 am

@Jalal Hajigholamali Welcome, and thanks for the info also

Reply

Ren
January 3, 2016 at 6:26 am

When I extract only speci c les from Tar archive, ‘-C’ option is doesn’t work.

Reply

Ravi Saive
January 4, 2016 at 11:06 am

@Ren,

Have you created the separate directory before extracting the speci c les to that directory?
The -C option is used to specify a different directory and it must exists before extracting les.

For example,

# mkdir /tmp/dump les

# tar -xvf powertop-2.7.tar.gz powertop-2.7/m4/po.m4 -C /tmp/dump les

Else, you can also extract les withing the current directory without creating a new directory
like:

# tar -xvf powertop-2.7.tar.gz powertop-2.7/m4/lib-ld.m4

powertop-2.7/m4/po.m4

Reply

Eric
November 1, 2017 at 8:30 pm

I have the same issue as @Ren, and in my case I have created the destination dir… no
matter how I specify things the extracted le always ends up in the current directory.

Reply

Eric
November 1, 2017 at 8:34 pm

Oh… if I change the order it works. If I move the “–directory ” earlier in the args, it works.

Reply

David
January 3, 2016 at 12:27 am

In the last example, extracting several les from the etc directory out of the tar le, what is the cts/ in
the rst line of the extracted les?

Reply

Konrad
January 2, 2016 at 10:50 pm

Great post. It would be helpful for Linux beginners to explain the switches used. What does -xf do?
You explain the addition of the -v switch which is good. What’s the difference between -C and –
directory? In Example 2, you throw in the -z switch and in Example 3, the -j switch without any
explanation. Then in example 4, you talk about extracting single les, yet the command also includes
an option to extract all les in a speci c directory – etc/mysql/. Again, a good example for using
different options, but it could use a bit of explanation.

Reply

Ravi Saive
January 4, 2016 at 11:11 am

@Konrad,

Yes, we haven’t speci ed the meaning of each tar command option used in these examples,
the reason because we’ve already requested users to read the article that says Mastering tar
Command with this 18 Examples in Linux, before heading up further. No issue you can nd all
these options explanation below:

c – create a archive le.

x – extract a archive le.
v – show the progress of archive le.
f – lename of archive le.
t – viewing content of archive le.
j – lter archive through bzip2.
z – lter archive through gzip.
r – append or update les or directories to existing archive le.
W – Verify a archive le.
wildcards (*) – Specify patters in unix tar command.

Reply

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