Where does IronTarArchive live in the IronZip API?

IronTarArchive is in the IronZip namespace, shipped in IronZip.dll. It derives from the abstract IronBaseArchive and implements IDisposable, so wrap instances in a using statement.

Does a TAR archive compress its files?

No. TAR bundles files together without compression, preserving structure and metadata. To shrink the output, create a gzip archive with IronGZipArchive or a bzip2 archive with IronBZip2Archive instead, or in addition.

How do you create a TAR file from existing files in C#?

Call the static IronTarArchive.FromFiles with an array of paths, or construct new IronTarArchive(), call Add for each file, then SaveAs with the .tar output path.

Class IronTarArchive

An IronTarArchive for tar-type ".tar" Archives

Inheritance

System.Object

IronBaseArchive

IronTarArchive

Implements

System.IDisposable

Inherited Members

IronBaseArchive._storedArchivePath

IronBaseArchive._internalStream

IronBaseArchive.isDisposed

Namespace: IronZip

Assembly: IronZip.dll

Syntax

public class IronTarArchive : IronBaseArchive

Bundling files into a TAR (.tar) archive runs through IronTarArchive. TAR comes from Unix and stores files together without compressing them, preserving the original file structure and metadata, which is why it is often paired with gzip or bzip2 to produce compressed tarballs. Create an empty archive with new IronTarArchive(), or open one from a path with the second constructor.

Files go in through Add, which takes one file path per call, and AddArchiveEntry. Three static helpers cover the common one-shot operations: FromFile and FromFiles build an archive directly from paths, and ExtractArchiveToDirectory unpacks an existing .tar to a folder. GetArchiveEntryNames lists the entries already inside an archive. The type derives from IronBaseArchive, so Save and SaveAs write the result and Dispose releases the stream.

A common run creates the archive, adds the files that belong together, and calls SaveAs. Because TAR does not compress, the output is close to the combined input size; reach for IronGZipArchive or IronBZip2Archive when the result also needs to shrink, which is how a .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 is produced. Opening an existing .tar through the path constructor exposes its contents through GetArchiveEntryNames, so the entries can be listed before extracting, and the static ExtractArchiveToDirectory unpacks an archive without constructing an instance. Wrap the archive in a using statement so it is disposed after saving.

using IronZip;

using var archive = new IronTarArchive();
archive.Add("report.pdf");
archive.SaveAs("output.tar");

The create TAR example builds an archive, the add files to TAR example grows an existing one, and the extract TAR example unpacks it.

Constructors

IronTarArchive()

Creates a blank Archive. Please use in a using block. Use the SaveAs method to export the archive.

Declaration

public IronTarArchive()

IronTarArchive(String)

Open an existing Archive. Please use in a using block. Use the SaveAs method to export the archive.

Declaration

public IronTarArchive(string ArchivePath)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	ArchivePath	File path to open the existing Archive. Example: `a.tar` You may use an absolute path.

Methods

Add(String)

Adds an archive entry (file) to the Archive. These entries will appear as files when the Archive is extracted.

Declaration

public void Add(string EntryFilePath)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	EntryFilePath	Filepath to the archive entry to add

AddArchiveEntry(String)

Adds an archive entry (file) to the Archive. These entries will appear as files when the Archive is extracted.

Declaration

public void AddArchiveEntry(string EntryFilePath)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	EntryFilePath	Filepath to the archive entry to add

Dispose()

Check the license before using IronZIP

Declaration

public override void Dispose()

Overrides

IronBaseArchive.Dispose()

Exceptions

Type	Condition
IronSoftware.Exceptions.LicensingException

ExtractArchiveToDirectory(String, String)

Will load an Archive and extract it to a Directory (System Folder)

Declaration

public static void ExtractArchiveToDirectory(string ArchiveSourcePath, string SaveDirectoryPath)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	ArchiveSourcePath	Path to the Archive to extract
System.String	SaveDirectoryPath	Directory to extract files to

FromFile(String)

Creates an Archive with a specific file to add to it. Please use in a using block. Use the SaveAs method to export the archive.

Declaration

public static IronTarArchive FromFile(string FilePath)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	FilePath	File Entry to add to the Archive

Returns

Type	Description
IronTarArchive	Returns the constructed IronTarArchive with the file entry added.

FromFiles(String[])

Creates an Archive with some files to add to it. Please use in a using block. Use the SaveAs method to export the archive.

Declaration

public static IronTarArchive FromFiles(string[] Paths)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String[]	Paths	File Entries to add to the Archive

Returns

Type	Description
IronTarArchive	Returns the constructed IronTarArchive with the file entries added.

GetArchiveEntryNames()

Load the entry / entries of an existing Archive

Declaration

public List<string> GetArchiveEntryNames()

Returns

Type	Description
System.Collections.Generic.List<System.String>

Save()

Save the archive

Declaration

public override void Save()

Overrides

IronBaseArchive.Save()

Remarks

Users cannot add additional entries after saving

SaveAs(String)

Save the archive to the specified path

Declaration

public override void SaveAs(string Path)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	Path	Save path

Overrides

IronBaseArchive.SaveAs(String)

Remarks

Users cannot add additional entries after saving

Implements

System.IDisposable

Inherited members

_storedArchivePath

_internalStream

isDisposed