unpack 'tar' but change directory name to extract to

Question

tar -tf filename.tar
folder1/file
folder1/name
[...]

I'd like to extract file and name to, folder2. Can this be done as a one-liner?

Marian · Answer 1 · 2010-05-30 00:52:18Z

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Use -C and --strip-components (See man tar).

answered May 30 '10 at 0:52

	I read `man tar`. Didn't spot `--strip-components`. nice one – Felipe Alvarez May 30 '10 at 6:25
	tar-1.14 uses --strip-path, tar-1.14.90+ uses --strip-components. Maybe problem here? – mmv-ru Jun 26 '11 at 7:42

feedback

Tom · Answer 2 · 2011-03-24 22:30:16Z

You can also use the --transform option for a bit more flexibility. It accepts any sed replacement (s) operation.

For example, this is how I extract a Linux tarball to a new directory so I can apply a patch:

tar -xjf linux-2.6.38.tar.bz2 --transform 's/linux-2.6.38/linux-2.6.38.1/'

2 Answers