tarfile

The tarfile module reads and writes tar archives in various compression formats. It works with uncompressed tar files as well as gzip-compressed (.tar.gz), bzip2-compressed (.tar.bz2), and xz-compressed (.tar.xz) archives.

Opening Archives

Reading an existing archive

import tarfile

# Open for reading
with tarfile.open('archive.tar.gz', 'r:gz') as tar:
    # List all members
    for member in tar.getmembers():
        print(member.name, member.size, member.mode)

Creating a new archive

import tarfile

# Create a new gzip-compressed archive
with tarfile.open('backup.tar.gz', 'w:gz') as tar:
    # Add files by name
    tar.add('file.txt')
    tar.add('folder/', arcname='folder')
    
    # Or add from memory
    import io
    data = b'Hello, world!'
    info = tarfile.TarInfo(name='hello.txt')
    info.size = len(data)
    tar.addfile(info, io.BytesIO(data))

Extracting Archives

Extract all files

import tarfile

with tarfile.open('archive.tar.gz', 'r:gz') as tar:
    tar.extractall(path='destination_folder')

Extract specific files

import tarfile

with tarfile.open('archive.tar.gz', 'r:gz') as tar:
    # Extract a single file
    tar.extract('myfile.txt', path='destination')
    
    # Extract multiple files
    members = [tar.getmember('file1.txt'), tar.getmember('file2.txt')]
    tar.extractall(path='destination', members=members)

Working with Members

Get member information

import tarfile

with tarfile.open('archive.tar.gz', 'r:gz') as tar:
    # Get a specific member
    info = tar.getmember('path/to/file.txt')
    print(info.name)
    print(info.size)
    print(info.mtime)  # modification time
    print(info.mode)    # file permissions
    print(info.isfile())
    print(info.isdir())

Read file contents without extracting

import tarfile

with tarfile.open('archive.tar.gz', 'r:gz') as tar:
    # Get the TarInfo object
    member = tar.getmember('readme.txt')
    
    # Extract file object to read in memory
    f = tar.extractfile(member)
    content = f.read()
    print(content.decode('utf-8'))

Writing Archives

Add files with custom permissions

import tarfile
import os

with tarfile.open('secure.tar', 'w') as tar:
    # Add a file with specific permissions
    info = tarfile.TarInfo('sensitive.dat')
    info.mode = 0o600  # owner read/write only
    info.uid = os.getuid()
    info.gid = os.getgid()
    
    with open('data.bin', 'rb') as f:
        tar.addfile(info, f)

Create archives with different compression

import tarfile

# Various compression modes
modes = {
    '': 'uncompressed',
    'r:gz': 'gzip compressed',
    'r:bz2': 'bzip2 compressed',
    'r:xz': 'xz compressed',
    'r:*': 'auto-detect compression',
}

for mode, desc in modes.items():
    ext = 'tar'
    if 'gz' in mode:
        ext = 'tar.gz'
    elif 'bz2' in mode:
        ext = 'tar.bz2'
    filename = f'archive.{ext}'
    with tarfile.open(filename, f'w{mode}' if mode else 'w') as tar:
        tar.add('myfile.txt')
    print(f'Created {desc} archive')

Common Patterns

Backup a directory

import tarfile
from datetime import datetime
import os

def create_backup(source_dir, backup_name=None):
    if backup_name is None:
        timestamp = datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d_%H%M%S')
        backup_name = f'backup_{timestamp}.tar.gz'
    
    with tarfile.open(backup_name, 'w:gz') as tar:
        tar.add(source_dir, arcname=os.path.basename(source_dir))
    
    return backup_name

List archive contents without extracting

import tarfile

def list_contents(archive_path):
    with tarfile.open(archive_path, 'r:*') as tar:
        print(f'Total members: {len(tar.getmembers())}')
        for member in tar:
            prefix = 'd' if member.isdir() else 'f'
            print(f'{prefix} {member.name} ({member.size} bytes)')

Verify archive integrity

import tarfile

def verify_archive(archive_path):
    try:
        with tarfile.open(archive_path, 'r:*') as tar:
            # Try to read all members
            for member in tar:
                if member.isfile():
                    f = tar.extractfile(member)
                    f.read()
            return True
    except Exception as e:
        print(f'Archive is corrupted: {e}')
        return False

See Also

• os module
• os.path
• pathlib