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UNIX command to check if file name ends with .tar OR if the file is a tar file

 
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# 1  
Old 02-16-2015
UNIX command to check if file name ends with .tar OR if the file is a tar file
Hello Team,

Would you please help me with a UNIX command that would check if file is a tar file.
if we dont have that , can you help me with UNIX command that would check if file ends with .tar

Thanks in advance.
# 2  
Old 02-16-2015
Hi.

The file command will tell you if it's a tar archive (as opposed to just telling you it has a (generally-meaningless) .tar file 'extension').

Code:
$ touch a b c && tar cf test.tar a b c
$ file test.tar
test: POSIX tar archive

$ mv test.tar test.blah
$ file test.blah
test: POSIX tar archive

$ echo "blah blah" > blah.tar
$ file blah.tar
blah.tar: ASCII text

# 3  
Old 02-16-2015
1)
Code:
tar tf file
tar: This does not look like a tar archive
tar: Skipping to next header
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
echo $?
2

2)
Code:
 ls *.tar

# 4  
Old 02-16-2015
Oh yes, and tar too can tell you if it's a tar file Smilie
# 5  
Old 02-16-2015
my requirement is something like

Code:
if [ file is a tar file ]
  then perform some action 
else
  perform some other action
fi

# 6  
Old 02-16-2015
Code:
if tar tf "file" 2> /dev/null 1>&2; then
  echo "it's a tar file"
else
  echo "it's not a tar file"
fi

Last edited by Scott; 02-17-2015 at 02:27 AM.. Reason: Fixed 2>&1 --> 1>&2
# 7  
Old 02-16-2015
So - what keeps you from applying above hints to satisfy your requirement?
 
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