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ajayyadavmca 03-26-2013 08:15 AM
tar extracts gzip file even without -z flag
 
Hi, i was creating tar archive with tar command and extracting it.

To create tar: tar -cvzf test.tar.gz /test
To extract: tar -xvf test.tar.gz

extract command was a mistake, i should have used -z option for gzip filter. but interestingly it works even without -z. i couldn't found any useful reference on Google why it works.

I have CentOS 6.2 linux.

Can you please help me understanding why tar extract work for gzip archive without using -z flag? Is it expected?

yowi 03-26-2013 08:29 AM
I guess the -a (--auto-compress use archive suffix to determine the compression program) option is a default, or maybe your site has TAR_OPTIONS set.

sycamorex 03-26-2013 08:57 AM
Perhaps, this one:

Quote:
Compressed archives are recognised automatically, it is no longer necessary to specify -Z, -z, or -j options to read them. Thus, you can now run tar tf archive.tar.gz and expect it to work!
Source: http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/

gnashley 03-26-2013 11:33 AM
The '-a' option is in since tar-0.15, IIRC.


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