How to compress files with tar command on Linux/Unix

To compress files using the tar command on Linux or Unix, you can use the -czvf options as follows:

tar -czvf file.tar.gz file1 file2 file3

This will create a .tar.gz archive file called file.tar.gz containing the file1, file2, and file3 files. The -c option tells tar to create a new archive, the -z option tells it to use gzip compression, the -v option enables verbose output, and the -f option specifies the name of the archive file.

You can also use the -C option to specify the directory where the files are located. For example:

tar -czvf file.tar.gz -C /path/to/files file1 file2 file3

This will create a .tar.gz archive file containing the file1, file2, and file3 files located in the /path/to/files directory.

You can also use the -T option to specify a file that contains a list of files to include in the archive. For example:

tar -czvf file.tar.gz -T filelist.txt

This will create a .tar.gz archive file containing the files listed in the filelist.txt file.

Note: These examples assume that you have permission to access the files and directories specified. You may need to use sudo to run the tar command with root privileges.

By using the tar command, you can easily create compressed archive files of your files and directories on Linux or Unix.