Archives and Compression

Welcome back.

In the previous lesson, you learned how to check network connections from the terminal.

Now we return to files.

But this time, we are going to pack them.

Because sometimes you do not want to send ten files separately like a confused pigeon with documents.

You want one archive.

Clean. Portable. Organized.

Very adult.

What You’ll Learn

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to:

• create archives with tar;
• extract .tar files;
• create compressed .tar.gz archives;
• extract .tar.gz archives;
• create .zip files;
• extract .zip files;
• understand the difference between archiving and compression.

The Mission

Your mission is simple:

Create a small folder with files, pack it into archives, compress it, extract it again, and understand what is happening.

No magic.

Just files wearing a suitcase.

Archive vs Compression

An archive collects multiple files into one file.

Compression makes files smaller.

They are not exactly the same thing.

Example:

.tar      archive only
.tar.gz   archive + compression
.zip      archive + compression

A .tar file is like putting many documents into one folder.

A .tar.gz file is like putting that folder into a vacuum bag.

Linux loves this.

Probably too much.

Create a Practice Folder

Go to your practice folder:

cd ~/terminal-practice

If it does not exist, create it:

mkdir -p ~/terminal-practice
cd ~/terminal-practice

Create a folder for this lesson:

mkdir lesson9-archive
cd lesson9-archive

Create some files:

echo "Linux archive practice" > notes.txt
echo "Remember to extract carefully" > reminder.txt
echo "Compression is useful" > compression.txt

Check:

ls

You should see:

compression.txt  notes.txt  reminder.txt

Good.

Now we have something to pack.

Create a tar Archive

Go one level up:

cd ..

Create a .tar archive:

tar -cf lesson9-archive.tar lesson9-archive

Now list files:

ls

You should see:

lesson9-archive
lesson9-archive.tar

The archive was created.

The options mean:

-c = create
-f = file

So this command means:

Create an archive file called lesson9-archive.tar from the folder lesson9-archive.

Very logical.

Very Linux.

See What Is Inside a tar Archive

To list the contents of a .tar archive:

tar -tf lesson9-archive.tar

The options mean:

-t = list archive contents
-f = file

You should see files inside the archive.

This is useful before extracting.

Because extracting unknown archives blindly is how your clean folder becomes a digital soup.

Extract a tar Archive

Create a folder for extraction:

mkdir extracted-tar

Extract the archive there:

tar -xf lesson9-archive.tar -C extracted-tar

The options mean:

-x = extract
-f = file
-C = extract into this directory

Now check:

tree extracted-tar

If tree is not installed, use:

ls -R extracted-tar

You should see your files again.

The archive worked.

Nothing exploded.

A beautiful day.

Create a Compressed tar.gz Archive

Now create a compressed archive:

tar -czf lesson9-archive.tar.gz lesson9-archive

The options mean:

-c = create
-z = gzip compression
-f = file

.tar.gz is very common on Linux.

You may also see .tgz.

That is basically the same idea, just shorter.

Because apparently even file extensions need nicknames.

Extract a tar.gz Archive

Create another extraction folder:

mkdir extracted-targz

Extract:

tar -xzf lesson9-archive.tar.gz -C extracted-targz

Options:

-x = extract
-z = gzip
-f = file
-C = target directory

Check:

ls -R extracted-targz

You should see the extracted folder and files.

Create a zip Archive

zip is common when sharing files with people on Windows, macOS, or anyone who thinks .tar.gz looks like a medical diagnosis.

Create a zip archive:

zip -r lesson9-archive.zip lesson9-archive

The -r option means recursive.

It includes files inside the folder.

If zip is not installed, install it.

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S zip unzip

Ubuntu or Debian

sudo apt install zip unzip

Fedora

sudo dnf install zip unzip

Extract a zip Archive

Create a folder:

mkdir extracted-zip

Extract the zip:

unzip lesson9-archive.zip -d extracted-zip

The -d option means destination directory.

Check:

ls -R extracted-zip

Your files should be there.

Common Archive Commands

Here are the commands you will use often:

tar -cf archive.tar folder
tar -tf archive.tar
tar -xf archive.tar
tar -czf archive.tar.gz folder
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz
zip -r archive.zip folder
unzip archive.zip

These are enough for most everyday tasks.

You do not need to memorize everything immediately.

Your brain deserves mercy.

Common Mistakes

Extracting in the wrong folder

Before extracting, check where you are:

pwd

Then list files:

ls

Extracting archives in random places is how your home folder becomes a garage sale.

Forgetting -r with zip

This may not include folder contents correctly:

zip archive.zip folder

Use:

zip -r archive.zip folder

The -r makes zip include everything inside.

Confusing create and extract

Create:

tar -czf archive.tar.gz folder

Extract:

tar -xzf archive.tar.gz

Small difference.

Big result.

One packs your files.

The other unpacks them.

Do not mix them up unless you enjoy confusion as a lifestyle.

Practice

Try this:

cd ~/terminal-practice
mkdir archive-practice
cd archive-practice
echo "File one" > one.txt
echo "File two" > two.txt
echo "File three" > three.txt
cd ..
tar -czf archive-practice.tar.gz archive-practice
mkdir test-extract
tar -xzf archive-practice.tar.gz -C test-extract
ls -R test-extract

Then answer:

1. What does tar -cf do?
2. What does tar -xf do?
3. What does -z mean?
4. What does zip -r do?
5. Why should you check where you are before extracting?

Mini Challenge

Create this folder:

backup-demo/
├── notes.txt
├── tasks.txt
└── config/
    └── app.conf

Then:

1. Create backup-demo.tar.
2. List its contents.
3. Create backup-demo.tar.gz.
4. Create backup-demo.zip.
5. Extract each archive into a separate folder.
6. Check that all files are there.

No mouse.

The mouse is now just a decorative object.

Summary

Today you learned:

• archives collect files into one file;
• compression makes data smaller;
• .tar is usually archive only;
• .tar.gz is archive plus gzip compression;
• .zip is common for sharing;
• tar -cf creates a tar archive;
• tar -xf extracts a tar archive;
• tar -czf creates a compressed tar.gz archive;
• tar -xzf extracts a compressed tar.gz archive;
• zip -r creates a zip archive;
• unzip extracts zip files.

Archives are everywhere in Linux.

Now when you see .tar.gz, you do not need to panic.

It is not a monster.

It is just a suitcase with a belt around it.

Next Lesson

In the next lesson, we’ll learn about environment variables, aliases, and shell basics.

That is where the terminal starts remembering things for you.

Like a helpful assistant.

But with fewer opinions.