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This is quick tip, howto list contents of tar, tar.gz and tar.bz2 files without unpacking file.

This is very useful on server environment where any graphical tool is not available. This method is also very useful when tar, tar.gz or tar.bz2 packages are really big, something like hundreds of megabytes or gigabytes (for example backups).

Overall, the key is the tar command with -t option.

List the Contents of tar File⌗

List tar contents short command⌗ 

tar -tvf archive.tar

List tar contents long command⌗ 

tar --list --verbose --file=archive.tar

Parameters:⌗

  • -t, –list – list the contents of an archive
  • -v, –verbose – verbosely list files processed
  • -f, –file=ARCHIVE – use archive file or device ARCHIVE

Example output:⌗ 

-rw-r--r-- foo/bar          7011 2010-10-01 01:19 pax/regtype1
-rw-r--r-- 1000/tarfile     7011 2010-10-01 01:19 pax/regtype2
-rw-r--r-- tarfile/tarfile  7011 2010-10-01 01:19 pax/regtype3
-rw-r--r-- tarfile/tarfile  7011 2010-10-01 01:19 pax/regtype4
-rw-r--r-- tarfile/tarfile     0 2010-10-01 01:19 misc/eof

List the Contents of tar.gz File⌗

List tar.gz contents short command⌗ 

tar -ztvf archive.tar.gz

List tar.gz contents long command⌗ 

tar --gzip --list --verbose --file=archive.tar

Parameters:⌗

  • -z, –gzip – filter the archive through gzip
  • -t, –list – list the contents of an archive
  • -v, –verbose – verbosely list files processed
  • -f, –file=ARCHIVE – use archive file or device ARCHIVE

Example output:⌗ 

drwxr-xr-x tarfile/tarfile    0 2003-01-06 01:19 ustar/dirtype/
drwxr-xr-x tarfile/tarfile  255 2003-01-06 01:19 ustar/dirtype-with-size/
hrw-r--r-- tarfile/tarfile    0 2003-01-06 01:19 ustar/lnktype link to ustar/regtype
lrwxrwxrwx tarfile/tarfile    0 2003-01-06 01:19 ustar/symtype -> regtype
brw-rw---- tarfile/tarfile  3,0 2003-01-06 01:19 ustar/blktype

List the Contents of tar.bz2 File⌗

List tar.bz2 contents short command⌗ 

tar -jtvf archive.tar.bz2

List tar.bz2 contents long command⌗ 

tar --bzip2 --list --verbose --file=archive.tar

Parameters:⌗

  • -j, –bzip2 – filter the archive through bzip2
  • -t, –list – list the contents of an archive
  • -v, –verbose – verbosely list files processed
  • -f, –file=ARCHIVE – use archive file or device ARCHIVE

Example output:⌗ 

-rw-r--r-- tarfile/tarfile 86016 2003-01-06 01:19 gnu/sparse
-rw-r--r-- 1000/100         7011 2003-01-06 01:19 misc/regtype-old-v7
-rw-r--r-- tarfile/tarfile  7011 2003-01-06 01:19 misc/regtype-hpux-signed-chksum
-rw-r--r-- 1000/100         7011 2003-01-06 01:19 misc/regtype-old-v7-signed-chksum
drwxr-xr-x 1000/100            0 2003-01-06 01:19 misc/dirtype-old-v7/
-rw-r--r-- tarfile/tarfile  7011 2003-01-06 01:19 misc/regtype-suntar
-rw-r--r-- lars/users       7011 2003-01-06 01:19 misc/regtype-xstar