`tar`

Packs files and folders into a tar archive.

Category: Programming > Files and Folders

Syntax

tar(tarfilename, files)

Creates tarfilename containing files.

tar(tarfilename, files, rootfolder)

Takes files relative to rootfolder.

entries = tar(___)

Also returns the names stored in the archive.

Description

A tar archive stores many files and folders, with their relative paths, in a single file. By itself it does not compress; the gzip variants do. Use untar to extract it, and zip when you need the more widespread zip format.

Input arguments

tarfilename: Name of the archive. The extensions .tar, .tgz and .tar.gz are recognized; .tgz and .tar.gz compress the archive.
files: A file or folder name, a wildcard pattern, or a cell array of them. A folder is added with its contents.
rootfolder: Folder in which files are looked up.

Output arguments

entries: Cell array of the files stored.

Example

Archiving a folder

mkdir data
writelines('1', 'data/a.txt');
writelines('2', 'data/b.txt');
entries = tar('bundle.tar', 'data')

Output

entries = 1×2 cell

    {'data/a.txt'}    {'data/b.txt'}

tar