Create a tar.xz in one command

compression archive tar xz
George K. picture George K. · Sep 17, 2013 · Viewed 138.6k times · Source

I am trying to create a .tar.xz compressed archive in one command. What is the specific syntax for that?

I have tried tar cf - file | xz file.tar.xz, but that does not work.

Answer

user2062950 picture user2062950 · Sep 17, 2013

Use the -J compression option for xz. And remember to man tar :)

tar cfJ <archive.tar.xz> <files>

Edit 2015-08-10:

If you're passing the arguments to tar with dashes (ex: tar -cf as opposed to tar cf), then the -f option must come last, since it specifies the filename (thanks to @A-B-B for pointing that out!). In that case, the command looks like:

tar -cJf <archive.tar.xz> <files>

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