Using tar to extract a group of specific files from archive

[Andrew Kaplan]

If I want to extract a group of files from a tar archive that have a specific extension, which, if either will work, of the following methods should I use?

1. tar xvf /path/to/device/file *.extension

2.
a.tar -tvf /path/to/device/file > filename.txt
b.vi ./filename.txt and remove any file that does not have the extension
c.sh -c 'tar xvf /path/to/device/file $(cat ./filename.txt)'

[Alexander Chuzhoy]

the first will sure work...

[Michael Schulte zur Sur]

Hi Andrew,

first should work, but use "*.extension
", so that the shell doesnt expand the *.

greetings,

Michael

[Mark Grant]

Just to clarify the previous post.

Because the shell will expand the "*" before tar actually runs, if you have a lot of files with the ".extension" extension in your current directory, tar will try and extract those files from the archive instead of files in the archive with that extension.

[Elmar P. Kolkman]

And that is why option 2 might be the better of the two. That way you are sure the shell won't interfere with what you are trying to do. Especially since you need to use single quotes, not double, if you want to keep the shell out of it ;-)