tarfile.add()
is a method used in Python to add files or directories to an existing tar archive or to create a new tar archive and add files or directories to it. Tar archives are file storage archives in tar (Tape Archive) format, often used in Unix and Linux systems to bundle multiple files into a single file while preserving the directory structure.
The tarfile.add()
method is typically used to compress and package files and directories into a tar archive. It can take several arguments, but the most important ones are:
name
: The name of the file or directory to be added to the tar archive.arcname
(optional): The name under which the file or directory should be stored in the tar archive. If not provided, the same name asname
is used.recursive
(optional): A boolean flag that controls whether a directory should be added recursively along with its contents.
Here’s a simple example of how to use tarfile.add()
to create a tar archive and add a file:
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import tarfile # Create a new tar archive named 'myarchive.tar' with tarfile.open('myarchive.tar', 'w') as tar: # Add a file named 'file.txt' to the tar archive tar.add('file.txt') # The 'myarchive.tar' file now contains 'file.txt' |
You can use tarfile.add()
to compress and package multiple files and directories into a single tar archive, which is useful for backup tasks, file distribution, and archiving in Python.