What does `tar -C` mean?

Question

In the section "Installing Portage", the Gentoo installation docs say:

# tar xvjf /mnt/gentoo/portage-latest.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr

What does this command do?

score 31 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 13 '13 at 06:18

31

Tar is used to handle archives (historically saved on tapes).

The x tells it to extract files from the archive
v stands for verbose
j for bzip2 archive
f indicates the file name
finally: C tells it to change directory (so the package content will be unpacked there)

See also man tar.

edited Nov 13 '13 at 06:18

rubo77

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answered Dec 02 '11 at 10:26

choroba

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I've also seen -C used while creating an archive. What does it mean in that context? – Frak Jan 23 '20 at 21:51
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@frakman1: Do I really have to copy the contents of `man tar` here? – choroba Jan 23 '20 at 22:11
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The man page just says `change to directory DIR` which is not very helpful. Saying "(so the package content will be unpacked there)" on the other hand, is. – Frak Jan 23 '20 at 22:19
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OK. When -C is used while creating an archive, it specifies where to search for the files to archive. – choroba Jan 24 '20 at 09:58

score 12 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 02 '11 at 20:58

12

If you ever need to know what a parameter does again, try to read the man first. The command man tar, and then doing /-C will get you to the section describing what -C stands for, which in this example represents 'change directory' (i.e. sends the results of the unpacking to /mnt/gentoo/usr).

edited Dec 02 '11 at 20:58

Simon Sheehan

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answered Dec 02 '11 at 10:42

timss

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score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 16 '12 at 02:18

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It unpacks /mnt/gentoo/portage-latest.tar.bz2 in /mnt/gentoo/usr/

edited Jul 16 '12 at 02:18

Tamara Wijsman

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answered Dec 02 '11 at 10:24

Tog

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What does `tar -C` mean?

3 Answers3