bashshellcommand-linetar

Rename Directory Name Before tar Happens


I have a directory e.g. /var/tmp/my-dir/ that I frequently compress with the following command:

$ cd /var/tmp/
$ tar -zcf my-dir.tar.gz my-dir/*

Later, when I untar my-dir.tar.gz, it'll create my-dir/ in the current directory. It sounds like the my-dir directory is "wrapped" inside the tarball. Is there a tar option to rename my-dir to e.g. your-dir before the actual tarring happens. So that ...

$ tar -zxf my-dir.tar.gz
# So that ... this creates your-dir/, instead of my-dir/

Thanks.


Solution

  • Which tar?

    GNU Tar accepts a --transform argument, to which you give a sed expression to manipulate filenames.

    For example, to rename during unpacking:

    tar -zxf my-dir.tar.gz --transform s/my-dir/your-dir/
    

    BSD tar and S tar similarly have an -s argument, taking a simple /old/new/ (not a general sed expression).