tar

tar creates, lists, tests and extracts uncompressed TAR archives entirely in PHP, with path checks that reject traversal, links and unsafe archive entries.

ArchivesVersion 1.1.4Stable
lil-terminal

Overview

Use TAR when you need one portable file tree without compression — for example a deployment bundle, backup or hand-off. -l inspects the contents, -t validates the archive, and -f is required before existing output is replaced.

TAR is a container, not compression

A TAR archive stores a directory tree as one file but does not compress its payload. -d delegates source removal to del only after archive creation succeeds, so creating and deleting remain two distinct operations.

Syntax

lil-terminal
tar <src|arc.tar> [dst] [options]

Reference

tar <src> [dst]

create an uncompressed TAR archive

tar <arc.tar> [dst]

extract into the current directory or <dst>

-l

list archive contents without extracting

-t

test archive paths, headers and file data

-f

replace an archive or existing extracted files

-d @del

delete the source after successful archive creation

Archive inspection

-l reports type/size and path in separate columns. -t validates checksums, entry paths and file data without extracting anything, then reports the number of entries, files and total payload size.

Extraction safety

Absolute paths, parent traversal, links and unsupported entry types are rejected. Existing extracted files are preserved unless -f is explicit.

Delete-source workflow

-d delegates deletion to del only after the archive was created successfully. The source is never removed after a failed archive operation.

Interactive sandbox preview

Run the prepared examples directly on the page. Their results are prebuilt and shown in the browser; no terminal command is executed on the server.

Create an uncompressed TAR archive

Install and manage

Install the current compatible version. Choose Base for the complete feature set or Minimum for the reduced package; use upgrade to update a module that is already installed.

Base and Minimum are two packages of the same current module release, not separate command versions.

Base package

Install the complete package with local command reference and every published mode.

install tar
Minimum package

Install the reduced package. Local reference is omitted; help <cmd> -i opens the current server reference.

install tar -m
Exact public version

Install exactly this published version.

install tar -v 1.1.4
Check or update

Ask upgrade to check compatibility and replace the installed block only when needed.

upgrade tar
Remove module

Remove the extension block while leaving the core and unrelated modules intact.

install tar -u

Examples

Examples are copyable command lines, not actions executed by this website. Review paths, permissions and destructive flags before running them on a real project.

Create an uncompressed TAR archive
cd \sandbox | tar data tmp/data.tar | tar tmp/data.tar -t
Status   Archive OK
Entries  3
Files    2
Size     7.7 KB
Tar · list
tar tmp/data.tar -l
D  -       data/
F  1.2 KB  data/sample.txt
F  6.5 KB  data/users.json
Extract into the current directory or <dst>
tar tmp/data.tar tmp/unpacked
extracted  sandbox/tmp/unpacked/data/
files      2
Tar · force
tar data tmp/data.tar -f
created  sandbox/tmp/data.tar
replace  explicit
Tar · txt
tar tmp/draft.txt tmp/draft.tar -d
created  sandbox/tmp/data.tar
source   deleted after successful archive creation
Create an uncompressed TAR archive
tar missing tmp/missing.tar
created  sandbox/tmp/data.tar
files    2

File used in this example: sandbox/data/sample.txt

The example uses a file or directory from the protected /sandbox/ documentation workspace.

lil-terminal sandbox text file

This file is safe to read, copy, rename, replace, hash and archive.

Related documentation

How do ZIP, GZIP and TAR work without shell tools? →How are filesystem operations protected? →

Current public release

v1.1.42026-08-13

Compact TAR options

Primary archive actions stay visible while operational flags are grouped below them.

# Version history