How to use tar to uncompress, once and for all

how to use tar to uncompress

http://en.kioskea.net/faq/811-how-to-use-the-tar-command

Unpacking specific files with "tar"

Example:

You can also unpack only part of a tar archive and extract specific files.

tar -xvf my_archive.tar "*.jpg"

Extract in the file "my_archive" all files with the .jpg extension ".

For a list of all files in the archive, use the "-t".

tar -tf my_file.tar

Unpack the file with tar

tar -vxf my_file.tar

• tar: the command
• vxf: the options
• v:provides a description of the unpacked files (optional)
• x:to extract the files
• f:to designate the archive containing the files (given parameter)
• my_file.tar: the name of the archive to retrieve
• Note that:
  • A file having the same name as the "original" folder (and not from the archive) will be created in the current directory (unless you specify another path), overwriting any file of the same name. 

Archiving folder (or directory) with "tar"

• tar -vcf archive_name.tar name_of_file
• tar: the command
• vcf: the options
• v :provides a description of archived content (optional)
• c: to create an archive
• f: to specify a name for the archive(in parameter)
• archive_name.tar: name given to the archive (the argument)
• name_of_file: name of the folder (or directory) to be archived 

http://www.wallpaperama.com/forums/how-to-uncompress-open-tar-gz-files-t52.html
tar xvf filename.tar
tar xvfz filename.tar.gz
tar xvzf filename.tar.gz */dir.you.want/*
tar yxf filename.tar.bz2

http://www.computerhope.com/unix/utar.htm