I'm new to Mac OS X and am not sure how to do this:

I have three directories. I want to create a tar/zip file of them so that I can attach them to an email.

Any ideas?

5 Answers

OSX ships with tar. From the Terminal, you can do this:

tar czf archive_folder_name.tar.gz folder_to_copy

Replace archive_folder_name.tar.gz with whatever you want to call the newly created archive, and folder_to_copy with whatever is the name of the folder you want to archive.

6

If you are looking for a GUI solution, simply use the compress command fron the contextual menu.

If you are interested in command-line solutions, several options are possible.

You may of course use the tar command.

tar -zcvf archive.tar.gz folder

But if you are sharing archives, some people may prefer a zip file, that you could create with the zip command

zip -r archive.zip folder

I think I found the option:

Right-click on the folder that you want to compress.

Compress option is available.

3

Well, other than GUI you can use console (or install some kind of compressing software like StuffixExpander or something like that if you don't like the default one or need more formats)

tar --help

tar -cf archive.tar foo bar # Create archive.tar from files foo and bar.

1

I downloaded guitar otherwise known as GUI tar, this allows you to use a gui to tar files instead of going into the terminal. To create a zip you can double press or right click the folder or file and press compress.

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Sign up using Google Sign up using Facebook Sign up using Email and Password Submit

Post as a guest

Post Your Answer Discard

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy