Follow these steps to extract * or *2 archives efficiently using command-line tools:
Prerequisites
- Linux/macOS terminal or Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
- Verify archive integrity using tar -tvf *
Extracting Compressed Tar Archives
Step 1: Navigate to target directory
cd /path/to/directory containing your tar file
Step 2: Execute extraction command
- For .* or .tgz files:
tar -xzvf * - For .*2 files:
tar -xjvf *2 - For uncompressed .tar files:
tar -xvf *
Command Options Explained
- -x: Extract archive
- -z: Decompress gzip (.gz)
- -j: Decompress bzip2 (.bz2)
- -v: Verbose output (file listing)
- -f: Specify filename (must be last option)
Advanced Operations
Extract to specific directory:
tar -xzvf * -C /target/directory
Extract specific files:
tar -xzvf * path/to/file1 path/to/file2
Verification
- Check extracted files: ls -l
- Inspect archive contents without extraction: tar -tzvf *
For password-protected ZIP files, use appropriate decryption tools following similar sequential extraction logic.
