prashant_n_mhatre
asked on
Extracting selected files from a tar file
I have a tar file containing multiple files. Is there any way to extract the selected files from tar?
I'm willing to give filelist in a file.
Winzip commandline interface allows me to do that.
I'm willing to give filelist in a file.
Winzip commandline interface allows me to do that.
BTW:
>Winzip commandline interface allows me to do that
You are sure this is a UNIX question?
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Werner
>Winzip commandline interface allows me to do that
You are sure this is a UNIX question?
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Werner
ASKER
Yes...I wan't do the same thing using tar
if your tar is on floppy:
tar xvf /dev/fd0 <filenames> if your floppy drive is /dev/fd0
if it's on disk:
tar -xvf <tarfile> <filenames>
Good luck, let me know if there are problems ...
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Werner
tar xvf /dev/fd0 <filenames> if your floppy drive is /dev/fd0
if it's on disk:
tar -xvf <tarfile> <filenames>
Good luck, let me know if there are problems ...
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Werner
BTW: if you use the 't' option with tar, you will get a list of all files in the tar file.
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Werner
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Werner
ASKER
Can't I give file name list from a file?
I am not aware of a direct file option. But this might help:
while read name
do
tar -xvf <tarfile> $name
done < <filelist.file>
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Werner
while read name
do
tar -xvf <tarfile> $name
done < <filelist.file>
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Werner
ASKER
No..the script doesn't extract files from the tar file.
ASKER
I'm deleting this question..No satisfactory answer
you are giving up fast! You didn't even tell me what is wrong ...
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Werner
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Werner
ASKER
It extracts all the files. The same thing I was doing earlier.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Just for a test, replace the 'tar' in the loop with
echo $name
You should see all the file names you have in your <filelist.file>. Are you sure you have the right script?
If your file is "x.tar", your file list is "tar.txt", the script should look like this:
while read name
do
tar -xvf x.tar $name
done < tar.txt
Let me know what happens. BTW: What is your OS?
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Werner
echo $name
You should see all the file names you have in your <filelist.file>. Are you sure you have the right script?
If your file is "x.tar", your file list is "tar.txt", the script should look like this:
while read name
do
tar -xvf x.tar $name
done < tar.txt
Let me know what happens. BTW: What is your OS?
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Werner
ASKER
This is my script
while read name
do
#tar -xvf 20010807.nc.tar $name
echo $name
done < files.lst
echo displays coorect files.
20010807.nc.tar conatins many files. I'm specifying 4 files in files.lst.
my OS is DYNIX/PTX
while read name
do
#tar -xvf 20010807.nc.tar $name
echo $name
done < files.lst
echo displays coorect files.
20010807.nc.tar conatins many files. I'm specifying 4 files in files.lst.
my OS is DYNIX/PTX
Hmmm, never heard of that ...
Can you untar a single file with:
tar -xvf 20010807.nc.tar <one_of_your_files>
also try to do a
man tar
that should give you the option of the tar command.
======
werner
Can you untar a single file with:
tar -xvf 20010807.nc.tar <one_of_your_files>
also try to do a
man tar
that should give you the option of the tar command.
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werner
You have to specified the file names exactly as they are stored in the
tar file.
To get a file list from the tar file (assume MY.tar)
tar -tf MY.tar > MYFILES
then use a text editor to delete the file you don't want from MYFILE,
To extract the FILES from MY.tar:
tar -xvf MY.tar `cat MYFILES`
If you only want to get one file:
tar -xvf MY.tar path-filename
tar file.
To get a file list from the tar file (assume MY.tar)
tar -tf MY.tar > MYFILES
then use a text editor to delete the file you don't want from MYFILE,
To extract the FILES from MY.tar:
tar -xvf MY.tar `cat MYFILES`
If you only want to get one file:
tar -xvf MY.tar path-filename
yuzh
Thanks for the comment. I hope prashant_n_mhatre knows what's in the file ... the 't' option was mentioned earlier already.
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Werner
Thanks for the comment. I hope prashant_n_mhatre knows what's in the file ... the 't' option was mentioned earlier already.
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Werner
tar xf your-tar-file -I your-selected-files-file
BTW, what the hell is so difficult in doing a: man tar
BTW, what the hell is so difficult in doing a: man tar
ahoffmann
apparently some people don't like to read and understand the man pages ... I thought that would be an easy one ...
BTW '-l' is a errormsg for linked files for me ...
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Werner
apparently some people don't like to read and understand the man pages ... I thought that would be an easy one ...
BTW '-l' is a errormsg for linked files for me ...
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Werner
griessh, what do you mean with '-l' ?
It looks like ther is a '-l' option in your tar command, that's confusing me ...
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Werner
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Werner
hey griessh, are you using a WYSIWYG system like M$ ? Then it might be vice to use the copy&paste functionality, or simply a font which has uniq shapes for '1' and 'l' and 'I'.
For programmers in rainy Seatle there might not be a esential difference for these characters, but for tar it is.
:-)
For programmers in rainy Seatle there might not be a esential difference for these characters, but for tar it is.
:-)
ASKER
Thank you all !!! I'll try out your suggestions and get back to you.
I really didn't expect there to be a "l", but even with the pipe I'm lost ...
It's raining in Seattle? In The Boston area here we're over 95F/150% humidity, but I already hear the thunder rolling in :-)
And yes, I'm on NT here, my AIX box is for serious development work only.
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Werner
It's raining in Seattle? In The Boston area here we're over 95F/150% humidity, but I already hear the thunder rolling in :-)
And yes, I'm on NT here, my AIX box is for serious development work only.
======
Werner
Prashant
problem is not how to extract specific files, check "man tar" for that, all the tar command wants is a list of files on the end of the command line.
PROBLEM - most versions of tar are very specific on the way the file name is specified, it must match exactly the name in the tar directory. If file is saved as "./tmp/myfile" specifying "myfile" won't find it. Use "tar -t" to check, you must give full path as stored.
PROBLEM - accessing list from a file. There is no way of telling tar to access an external filelist you must use a construction such as "`cat filelist`" on the command line to pass contents of "filelist" to tar. Single quotes used above are backwards not normal single quote.
problem is not how to extract specific files, check "man tar" for that, all the tar command wants is a list of files on the end of the command line.
PROBLEM - most versions of tar are very specific on the way the file name is specified, it must match exactly the name in the tar directory. If file is saved as "./tmp/myfile" specifying "myfile" won't find it. Use "tar -t" to check, you must give full path as stored.
PROBLEM - accessing list from a file. There is no way of telling tar to access an external filelist you must use a construction such as "`cat filelist`" on the command line to pass contents of "filelist" to tar. Single quotes used above are backwards not normal single quote.
PeterMac, welcome to EE.
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prashant_n_mhatre
please reject PeterMac's answer. At the same time it would be nice to accept one of our comments as an answer or at least let us know if there are still any problems.
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Werner
We usually write a comment instead of an answer, so the question won't be locked and other experts have the chance to give their opinions, too. Only if you are 150% sure that you have the right answer, we would post it as an answer. Please take a look at "Tips on Comments and Answers" at the end of this page.
It is also considered to be not very polite to repost comments from other experts as answers.
prashant_n_mhatre
please reject PeterMac's answer. At the same time it would be nice to accept one of our comments as an answer or at least let us know if there are still any problems.
======
Werner
ASKER
Unfortunately I got busy with other activities and I didn't get time to test your suggestions.
I'll do it very soon.
Presently I'm extracting all files, moving the required files to another directory and deleting the remaining files.
Thanks PeterMac for your comment but what griessh says is correct. It seems that you are new to EE.
I never proposed an answer even if I'm 1000 % sure. Sorry for the time being I'm rejecting your answer.
I'll award points to the most useful comment.
I'll do it very soon.
Presently I'm extracting all files, moving the required files to another directory and deleting the remaining files.
Thanks PeterMac for your comment but what griessh says is correct. It seems that you are new to EE.
I never proposed an answer even if I'm 1000 % sure. Sorry for the time being I'm rejecting your answer.
I'll award points to the most useful comment.
well, I hope this comment helps. whenever I need to extract tars that contain a specific pattern in their file name, I use the following command.
tar -tf tarfile.tar | grep "pattern" | xargs tar -xvf tarfile.tar
If you have a specific list of file names that match exactly, then use,
cat ListOfFileNamesToBeXtracte
and as rightly suggested by somebody, you can always feed the list by using
tar -xvf tarfile.tar `cat ListOfFileNamesToBeXtracte
and the cat command is within back quotes which can be found right under the Esc key in the keyboard.
tar -tf tarfile.tar | grep "pattern" | xargs tar -xvf tarfile.tar
If you have a specific list of file names that match exactly, then use,
cat ListOfFileNamesToBeXtracte
and as rightly suggested by somebody, you can always feed the list by using
tar -xvf tarfile.tar `cat ListOfFileNamesToBeXtracte
and the cat command is within back quotes which can be found right under the Esc key in the keyboard.
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Werner