how to delete a particular file from tar file

majalee · 07-12-2006, 03:36 AM

i have a tar file from which i would like to delete a particular file. can i do it without untar it, deleting the file and tar back ?

just tried out --delete option, but the tar file just doesn't seem to be doing anything.

aaditya

zeitounator · 07-12-2006, 04:06 AM

Code:

tar --delete -f yourArchive.tar archivePath/to/file

It seems you cannot use this on a compressed archive, your must decompress it first and then recompress it.

Code:

[clavel@home ~]$ tar zcf test.tar.gz test
[clavel@home ~]$ tar ztf test.tar.gz
test/
test/blo
test/bla
[clavel@home ~]$ tar -z --delete -f test.tar.gz test/blo
tar: Cannot update compressed archives
Try `tar --help' or `tar --usage' for more information.
[clavel@home ~]$ gunzip test.tar.gz
[clavel@home ~]$ tar --delete -f test.tar test/blo
[clavel@home ~]$ gzip test.tar
[clavel@home ~]$ tar ztf test.tar.gz
test/
test/bla

majalee · 07-12-2006, 04:53 AM

thanks zeitounator !!

yes !! as you said, one cannot delete single files from compressed archives.

thanks once again.