Note: CentOS does not include an official extract command by default. The term “extract” typically refers to using standard command-line tools like tar, unzip, or 7z for decompressing files. Below is a consolidated guide to common extraction tasks in CentOS, based on official documentation and community best practices.
CentOS relies on the following tools for handling compressed files:
tar: For .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .tar.xz (and other tar-based formats).unzip: For .zip files.7z: For .7z files (requires installation via yum or dnf).tar for Tar-Based Archivestar is the most versatile tool for extracting tar-based archives (common in CentOS repositories and software bundles).
tar -xvf <archive_name>.tar[.gz|.bz2|.xz] [-C <target_directory>]
-x: Extract files.-v: Verbose mode (shows extracted files).-f: Specifies the archive file name.-C: Optional; sets the target directory for extraction..tar file (no compression):tar -xvf archive.tar
.tar.gz file (gzip-compressed):tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz
.tar.bz2 file (bzip2-compressed):tar -xjvf archive.tar.bz2
/opt/myapp):tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz -C /opt/myapp
tar -tzvf archive.tar.gz # For .tar.gz files
tar -tjf archive.tar.bz2 # For .tar.bz2 files
unzip for ZIP FilesFor .zip archives (common in cross-platform scenarios), install unzip first if not available:
sudo yum install unzip
unzip <archive_name>.zip [-d <target_directory>]
-d: Optional; sets the target directory..zip file to the current directory:unzip archive.zip
~/downloads):unzip archive.zip -d ~/downloads
7z for 7z FilesFor .7z archives (high-compression format), install the p7zip package:
sudo yum install p7zip p7zip-plugins
7z x <archive_name>.7z [-o<target_directory>]
x: Extract with full paths.-o: Optional; sets the target directory (no space after -o)..7z file to the current directory:7z x archive.7z
/tmp):7z x archive.7z -o/tmp
sudo for extraction to system directories (e.g., /usr/local) if you encounter permission errors.tar and unzip will prompt before overwriting existing files. Use -f (force) with tar to overwrite silently (e.g., tar -xzf archive.tar.gz -C /opt/myapp --overwrite).tar, use --exclude to skip specific files/directories (e.g., tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz --exclude='*.log').For advanced use cases (e.g., extracting specific files from an archive), refer to the tool’s man pages:
man tar
man unzip
man 7z