Tar Pascal Reference Documentation
Tar
Current Version: 11.5.0
Chilkat.Tar
Add files or directory trees and write standard TAR output, with control
over archive paths, directory handling, and write format.
Work with common compressed archive forms such as
Inspect archive entries, verify archive structure, and produce XML
listings for display, logging, or programmatic processing.
Extract entire archives or selected entries, including workflows that
extract matching files directly to memory or
Include or exclude files using filters, control relative paths in the
archive, and manage how entries are restored during extraction.
Preserve or override UNIX-style permissions and create Debian
For an extended overview, see
Tar Class Overview.
Create, list, verify, filter, and extract TAR archives and compressed TAR formats.
Chilkat.Tar creates, verifies, lists, and extracts TAR archives,
including compressed TAR formats such as .tar.gz,
.tgz, .tar.bz2, and .tar.Z. It
supports adding individual files and directory trees, controlling archive
paths, preserving or overriding file permissions, filtering included or
extracted files, extracting from memory, extracting selected entries to
memory or BinData, producing XML listings, and creating Debian
.deb package archives from control and data tarballs.
Create TAR archives
Compressed TAR formats
.tar.gz,
.tgz, .tar.bz2, and .tar.Z.
List and verify contents
Selective extraction
BinData.
Filters and paths
Permissions and packages
.deb package archives from control and data tarballs.
Tar when the data is a TAR archive or a compressed TAR
archive. Configure the archive paths, filters, permissions, and compression
format, then create, list, verify, or extract the archive as needed. Use
Chilkat.Zip for ZIP archives, Chilkat.Gzip for a
single GZIP stream, and Chilkat.Compression for raw compression
operations.
Create / Free
uses
Chilkat.Tar;
var
obj: TTar;
begin
obj := TTar.Create;
try
if not obj.IsValid then
raise Exception.Create('Failed to create a TTar instance.');
// ... use obj ...
finally
obj.Free;
end;
end;
Allocates the underlying CkTar object and returns a new TTar instance. Simply adding Chilkat.Tar to the unit's uses clause is enough to locate and bind to the Chilkat shared library (DLL / .so / .dylib) at runtime — no separate load step is required. Check obj.IsValid after calling Create; it is False if the underlying library could not be found/loaded or the object could not be allocated (for example, when unlicensed).
Every TTar created by calling Create should eventually be released by calling .Free (inherited from TObject). The destructor automatically disposes the underlying CkTar handle. A native (unmanaged) memory leak occurs if the object is never freed.
Properties
CaptureXmlListing
If True, then untar methods, such as Untar, UntarGz, UntarBz2, and UntarZ, will also capture an XML listing of the contents in the XmlListing property. The format of the XML contained in XmlListing is identical to what is returned by the ListXml method. The default value is False.
Charset
Character encoding to be used when interpreting filenames within .tar archives for untar operations. The default is utf-8, and this is typically not changed. (The WriteTar methods always uses utf-8 to store filenames within the TAR archive.)
DebugLogFilePath
If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.
Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.
Possible causes of hangs include:
- A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
- A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
- An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.
DirMode
The directory permissions to used in WriteTar* methods. The default is octal 0755. This is the value to be stored in the mode field of each TAR header for a directory entries.
DirPrefix
A prefix to be added to each file's path within the TAR archive as it is being created. For example, if this property is set to the string subdir1, then subdir1/ will be prepended to each file's path within the TAR.
Note: This property does not apply to files added using the AddFile2 method, which directly specifies the path-in-tar.
topFileMode
The file permissions to used in WriteTar* methods. The default is octal 0644. This is the value to be stored in the mode field of each TAR header for a file entries.
GroupId
The default numerical GID to be stored in each TAR header when writing TAR archives. The default value is 1000.
topGroupName
The default group name to be stored in each TAR header when writing TAR archives. The default value is the logged-on username of the application's process.
topHeartbeatMs
The interval in milliseconds between each AbortCheck event callback, which enables an application to abort certain method calls before they complete. By default, HeartbeatMs is set to 0, meaning no AbortCheck event callbacks will trigger.
LastErrorHtml
Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
topLastErrorText
Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
LastErrorXml
Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
topLastMethodSuccess
Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: True means success, False means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.
MatchCaseSensitive
Determines whether pattern matching for the MustMatch and MustNotMatch properties is case-sensitive or not. The default value is False.
MustMatch
If set, then file paths must match this pattern when creating TAR archives, or when extracting from TAR archives. If a file does not match, it will not be included when creating a TAR, or it will not be extracted when extracting from a TAR. This property also applies to methods that create or extract from compressed TAR archives.
The must-match pattern may include 0 or more asterisk characters, each of which represents 0 or more of any character. For example, the pattern *.txt causes only .txt files to be included or extracted. The default value is an empty string, indicating that all files are implicitly matched.
MustNotMatch
If set, then file paths must NOT match this pattern when creating TAR archives, or when extracting from TAR archives. If a file path matches, it will not be included when creating a TAR, or it will not be extracted when extracting from a TAR. This property also applies to methods that create or extract from compressed TAR archives.
The must-not-match pattern may include 0 or more asterisk characters, each of which represents 0 or more of any character. For example, the pattern *.obj causes all .obj files to be skipped. The default value is an empty string, indicating that no files are skipped.
NoAbsolutePaths
If True, then absolute paths are converted to relative paths by removing the leading / or \ character when untarring. This protects your system from unknowingly untarring files into important system directories, such as C:\Windows\system32. The default value is True.
NumDirRoots
The total number of directory roots set by calling AddDirRoot (i.e. the number of times AddDirRoot was called by the application). A TAR archive is created by calling AddDirRoot for one or more directory tree roots, followed by a single call to WriteTar (or WriteTarBz2, WriteTarGz, WriteTarZ). This allows for TAR archives containing multiple directory trees to be created.
topPercentDoneScale
This property is only valid in programming environment and languages that allow for event callbacks.
Sets the value to be defined as 100% complete for the purpose of PercentDone event callbacks. The defaut value of 100 means that at most 100 event PercentDone callbacks will occur in a method that (1) is event enabled and (2) is such that it is possible to measure progress as a percentage completed. This property may be set to larger numbers to get more fine-grained PercentDone callbacks. For example, setting this property equal to 1000 will provide callbacks with .1 percent granularity. For example, a value of 453 would indicate 45.3% competed. This property is clamped to a minimum value of 10, and a maximum value of 100000.
topScriptFileMode
The file permissions to used in WriteTar* methods for shell script files (.sh, .csh, .bash, .bsh). The default is octal 0755. This is the value to be stored in the mode field of each TAR header for a file entries.
SuppressOutput
If True, then untar methods, such as Untar, UntarGz, UntarBz2, and UntarZ, do not produce any output. Setting this value equal to True is useful when the CaptureXmlListing is also set to True, which enables an application to get the contents of a TAR archive without extracting. The default value is False.
UntarCaseSensitive
This property is deprecated. Applications should instead use the MatchCaseSensitive property. Until this property is officially removed, it will behave the same as the MatchCaseSensitive property.
topUntarDebugLog
Similar to the VerboseLogging property. If set to True, then information about each file/directory extracted in an untar method call is logged to LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml / LastErrorHtml). The default value is False.
UntarDiscardPaths
If True, then discard all path information when untarring. This causes all files to be untarred into a single directory. The default value is False.
UntarFromDir
The directory path where files are extracted when untarring. The default value is ., meaning that the current working directory of the calling process is used. If UntarDiscardPaths is set, then all files are untarred into this directory. Otherwise, the untar operation will re-create a directory tree rooted in this directory.
UntarMaxCount
Limits the number of files extracted during an untar to this count. The default value is 0 to indicate no maximum. To untar a single file, one might set the UntarMatchPattern such that it will match only the file to be extracted, and also set UntarMaxCount equal to 1. This causes an untar to scan the TAR archive until it finds the matching file, extract it, and then return.
topUserId
The default numerical UID to be stored in each TAR header when writing TAR archives. The default value is 1000.
topUserName
The default user name to be stored in each TAR header when writing TAR archives. The default value is the logged-on username of the application's process.
topVerboseLogging
If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.
Version
WriteFormat
The TAR format to use when writing a TAR archive. Valid values are gnu, pax, and ustar. The default value is gnu.
XmlListing
Contains the XML listing of the contents of the TAR archive for the last untar method call (such as Untar, UntarGz, etc.) where the CaptureXmlListing property was set to True.
Methods
AddDirRoot
Adds a directory tree to be included in the next call to one of the WriteTar* methods. To include multiple directory trees in a .tar, call AddDirRoot multiple times followed by a single call to WriteTar.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAddDirRoot2
const rootPath: string): Boolean;
Adds a directory tree to be included in the next call to one of the WriteTar* methods. To include multiple directory trees in a .tar, call AddDirRoot2 (and/or AddDirRoot) multiple times followed by a single call to WriteTar.
The rootPrefix adds a prefix to the path in the TAR for all files added under this root. The rootPrefix should not end with a forward-slash char. For example: This is good: abc/123, but this is not good: abc/123/. If the DirPrefix property is also set, its prefix will added first.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAddFile
Adds a local file to be included in the next call to one of the WriteTar* methods. To include multiple files or directory trees in a .tar, call AddFile/AddDirRoot multiple times followed by a single call to WriteTar (or WriteTarGz, or WriteTarBz2).
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAddFile2
const pathWithinTar: string): Boolean;
Adds a local file to be included in the next call to one of the WriteTar* methods. Allows for the path within the TAR to be specified. To include multiple files or directory trees in a .tar, call AddFile/AddFile2/AddDirRoot multiple times followed by a single call to WriteTar (or WriteTarGz, or WriteTarBz2).
Note: The DirPrefix property does not apply to files added via this method because this method explicilty specifies the path-in-tar.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topClearDirRootsAndFiles
Clears all directory roots and files previously added by calls to AddDirRoot, AddDirRoot2, AddFile, and AddFile2.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topCreateDeb
const dataPath: string;
const debPath: string): Boolean;
Creates a .deb Debian binary package archive from a control.tar.gz and data.tar.gz. The controlPath is the path to the control.tar.gz file (or equivalent), and the dataPath is the path to the data.tar.gz file. The output file path (.deb) is specified in debPath.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topGetDirRoot
Returns the value of the Nth directory root. For example, if an application calls AddDirRoot twice, then the NumDirRoots property would have a value of 2, and GetDirRoot(0) would return the path passed to AddDirRoot in the 1st call, and GetDirRoot(1) would return the directory path in the 2nd call to AddDirRoot.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topListXml
Scans a TAR archive and returns XML detailing the files and directories found within the TAR.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topListXmlAsync (1)
function ListXmlAsync(const tarPath: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ListXml method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
LoadTaskCaller
function LoadTaskCaller(task: TChilkatBase): Boolean;
Untar
Extracts the files and directories from a TAR archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property. Returns the number of files and directories extracted, or -1 for failure.
UntarAsync (1)
function UntarAsync(const tarPath: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the Untar method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
UntarBz2
Extracts the files and directories from a tar.bz2 (or tar.bzip2) archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
UntarBz2Async (1)
function UntarBz2Async(const tarPath: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the UntarBz2 method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
UntarFirstMatchingToBd
function UntarFirstMatchingToBd(const tarPath: string;
const matchPattern: string;
bd: TChilkatBase): Boolean;
Untars the first file matching the matchPattern into bd.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topUntarGz
Extracts the files and directories from a tar.gz (or tar.gzip) archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
UntarGzAsync (1)
function UntarGzAsync(const tarPath: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the UntarGz method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
UntarZ
Extracts the files and directories from a tar.Z archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
UntarZAsync (1)
function UntarZAsync(const tarPath: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the UntarZ method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
VerifyTar
Verifies that a TAR archive is valid. This method opens the TAR archive and scans the entire file by walking the TAR headers. Returns True if no errors were found. Otherwise returns False.
VerifyTarAsync (1)
function VerifyTarAsync(const tarPath: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the VerifyTar method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
WriteTar
Writes a TAR archive. The directory trees previously added by calling AddDirRoot one or more times are included in the output TAR archive.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
WriteTarAsync (1)
function WriteTarAsync(const tarPath: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteTar method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
WriteTarBz2
Writes a .tar.bz2 compressed TAR archive. The directory trees previously added by calling AddDirRoot one or more times are included in the output file.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
WriteTarBz2Async (1)
function WriteTarBz2Async(const bz2Path: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteTarBz2 method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
WriteTarGz
Writes a .tar.gz (also known as .tgz) compressed TAR archive. The directory trees previously added by calling AddDirRoot one or more times are included in the output file.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
WriteTarGzAsync (1)
function WriteTarGzAsync(const gzPath: string): TChilkatBase;
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteTarGz method with the arguments provided.
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure