C-Shells: Tar Redirect and Restore to Another Location

C-Shells: Using tar, Redirect, and Restore to Extract a Tape to Another Location

In this article, we will explore how to use the tar command, along with the redirect and restore commands, to extract a tape to another location. This can be useful when you want to extract the contents of a tape to a different directory than the current one. We will cover the key concepts and provide detailed instructions, including subtitles and code blocks, to help you understand and use these commands effectively.

The tar command

The tar command, short for tape archive, is a utility used to create and extract archive files. It can be used to create archive files from a directory or a set of files, and to extract the contents of an archive file. The basic syntax of the tar command is as follows:

For example, the following command creates an archive file called myarchive.tar from the mydir directory:

Redirecting the output of tar

When extracting the contents of a tape, the tar command normally sends the output to the standard output (stdout). However, you can use the redirect command to send the output to a file instead. This can be useful if you want to extract the contents of the tape to a different location.

For example, the following command extracts the contents of the tape to a file called myarchive.tar in the /tmp directory:

Using the restore command

The restore command is another utility that can be used to extract the contents of a tape. It is similar to the tar command, but it has some additional features that make it useful in certain situations. For example, the restore command can be used to extract the contents of a tape to a specific directory, even if the tape was not created with that directory as its root.

To use the restore command, you first need to create a tape drive device file. This can be done using the mknod command, as follows:

Once the tape drive device file has been created, you can use the restore command to extract the contents of the tape, as follows:

Putting it all together

Now that we have covered the key concepts and commands, let's put it all together and extract the contents of a tape to a different location using tar, redirect, and restore. Here is an example:

First, use the tar command to extract the contents of the tape to a file:

Next, use the restore command to extract the contents of the file to the desired location:

• The tar command is used to create and extract archive files
• The redirect command can be used to send the output of tar to a file
• The restore command can be used to extract the contents of a tape to a specific directory
• To use restore, you must first create a tape drive device file using the mknod command

References

• tar man page
• redirect man page
• restore man page
• mknod man page