What is the tar command used for? Give all its uses.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The tar command can be used to backup files and directories in a single file and then restore all or some of them on as needed basis. You can also create an archive of files and directories if you need to save and/or send them to someone via e-mail. You normally need to do this to archive files related to a project so that you can transfer them to someone via e-mail, ftp, or a secondary storage media (tape, floppy, or CD-ROM). The primary reason for making an archive is the convenience of dealing with (sending or receiving) a single file instead of a complete directory hierarchy. Without an archive, the sender may have to send several files and directories (a file structure) that the receiver would have to restore in the correct order. Without an archiving facility, depending on the size of the file structure, the task of sending, receiving, and reconstructing the file structure can be very time-consuming. Archiving also saves disk space. Thus you can also archive files and directories that are not to be used for quite some time and save disk space. LINUX/UNIX has several utilities that can be used for archiving files, including afio, cpio, dump, and tar. tar is the most commonly used of these utilities.