easy way to remember the options
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r/linuxmemesu/Zciurus (3650)

Comments (88)

eXtract Ze Verdammte File

Compress Ze Vucking File

eXtract Ze Vucking File

EXTRACTEN DAS VERDAMMTE SPIEL!!!

sorry, it's my muscle memory

I read that in his voice

tfw a meme helps you remember something you couldn't remember for years

thanks for this xD

The z flag isn’t necessary when extracting!

tar -xf will extract compressed files or regular tarballs

Heathen! You shall always use v so that you can see what files are being extracted/compressed. It also helps comfort you when you're dealing with large files that the program isn't hanging.

Under certain circumstances, v can also make extraction significantly slower. You could also use progress on another shell if it’s available on your system.

"I think the problem Digg had is that it was a company that was built to be a company, and you could feel it in the product. The way you could criticise Reddit is that we weren't a company – we were all heart and no head for a long time. So I think it'd be really hard for me and for the team to kill Reddit in that way.”

  • Steve Huffman, aka /u/spez, Reddit CEO.

So long, Reddit, and thanks for all the fish.

create ve file

extract ve file

keeps the charm

The -v flag is heavily underrated

[deleted]

In GNU tar 1.34 on Ubuntu, seems you need to use -a to enable this functionality when creating archives. Without, it just creates an uncompressed archive.

When reading, it'll byte sniff first then use filename extensions.

I’m assuming this also applies to creating the compressed archive?

No, you need to tell tar which format to use. It seems that -a tells GNU tar to guess the format from the filename extension. The docs don't suggest that this is turned on by default and testing here indicates this is the case.

When reading it will use byte signatures inside the file to figure out the compression format so no extra arguments or specific filename extension required.

Thanks! That’s impressive nonetheless

Some distros might turn on -a by default, so YMMV. But it didn't here.

[deleted]

I'd rather remove all unnecessary flags

tar -xf || tar -cf Xtract file, compress file

Except it doesn’t compress, it archives. The z flag is for gzip compression. The j flag is for bzip2 IIRC.

Edit: Turns out I was wrong, tar also checks the file name and will attempt to use a suitable compression utility (at least GNU tar).

My reading of the info pages is that you need to use -a when creating an archive to turn on this feature.

When reading an archive, GNU tar will automagically detect the compression format so no extra flags are needed. If it can't detect the format it'll fall back to using the file name and then tell you to explicitly specify the compression format.

Edit: on my local machine, tar -cf foo.tar.bz2 ... created an uncompressed archive while -caf correctly created a compressed one. It's possible other distros enable that by default.

I removed that flag intentionally because you already gonna specify file name

You need a compression flag (like -z, -J or -I, for example -Ipigz or -I'zstd -T0 --ultra -20') for c if you want compression in the tar command, otherwise it'll create an uncompressed tar.

What does the z do?

z is for GZip

you can safely omit that flag, since tar checks the filename as well (ends with .gz)

It always cracks me up how they ran out of characters for the compression algorithms real quick. They managed to squeeze in 'j' for bzip2 (for Jullian Seward maybe?) and then J for xz and then just gave up.

"create file", "extract file" - easier but where's the meme potential?

Didn't even know that

z indicates that it's a gzip-compressed file.

That's how I remember it. But I always think of myself as a German villain about to pull a lever.

EXTRACT ZEH FILES!!

The french accent also works

Lmao same

Hahaha that is how I remember it too. Great meme!

xzf = extract zucking files

$ tar cf data.tar.gz data $ tar xf data.tar.gz

Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Create File! Extrakt File!"

I imagine Arnold saying this in Terminator voice

hey thanks!

I always use -a instead of -z or -J etc.

as a german I approve this

Slightly related: https://xkcd.com/1168XKCD's perspective

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone would post that specific xkcd :P

I didn't even wanna try to remember what those two did so I was just like alias newtar= "tar czf" and alias untar="tar xzf"

I always use tar -xzvf and I have no idea what any of those flags do. But it works.

-x: extract

-z: use gzip/gunzip when compressing/extracting

-v: verbose - print filenames as they're extracted

-f: specify that the archive is a file and not an ancient tape drive, with the filename as the next argument

czfv - Create Zip File Verbosely xzfv - eXtract Zip File Verbosely

eXtract Ze Vucking File

Is “create zip file” and “extract zip file” too hard?

Its not funny enough

r/LinuxHerrenVolk

This might make it so i can actually remember

-x : extract

-c : create

-f [file] : specify the file

In case you need to see what files are being archived, -v : verbose

Its simple people make it complicated

c is create, not compress.

Minor difference, but a straight tar file isn't compressed.

Ah thanks i'll edit it

then what about z

Zip, now optional

It goes automatic if you specify file extensioms like .gz .xz

Saved. Thanks!

Saved. Thanks!

You're welcome!

Lol I always say this in my head

Thank you very much.

Create ze vucking file

tar cf - directory/ | xz -T0 -9e > file.tar.xz

bsdtar cavf archive.tar.gz files

bsdtar tvf archive.tar.gz (files)

tar tvzf data.tar.gz

Tell me Vat is in Ze File

Prost!

Actually helpful meme.

xzvf has been burned into my head

I think zf means Zip File

Thx mate I never actually remembered this

Haaaans! Get ze file!!!

Word to the wise, don't forget to use mkdir first, lest you get tarbombed.

This might be the best Eselsbrücke ever. I'm German by the way.

so true lol

[deleted]

hey, sorry about that. check your dm's

The hero ve need!

I can't give this enough upvotes

I have been doing this for so long I can't even describe the comradery I feel for you right now. You are my coding soulmate.

Hahahha super I will probably print it

{C}ompress {Z}e {V}ucking {F}ile is how I think of it.

Thanks. This is great!

EXTRACT ZE VUCKING FILE

I❤️U, OP - I used to have a post-it on my table with tar parameters. No longer needed :)