LPIC-1 GNU and Unix Commands Practice Question
Which TWO commands can be used to view the contents of a compressed file named archive.tar.gz without extracting it to disk?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse `gunzip -l` (which shows compression metadata) with listing the actual file contents, or they mistakenly apply bzip2 tools to gzip archives, forgetting that each compression format requires its own specific decompression utility.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
tar -tzf archive.tar.gz
The `tar -tzf` command lists the contents of a tar archive compressed with gzip without extracting it. The `-t` flag tells tar to list the table of contents, `-z` handles the gzip decompression on the fly, and `-f` specifies the archive file. This is the standard, single-command method for viewing the contents of a `.tar.gz` file without writing any files to disk.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
gzip -d archive.tar.gz
Why it's wrong here
gzip -d decompresses, but does not list contents; it would produce archive.tar.
- ✗
bunzip2 -c archive.tar.gz | tar -t
Why it's wrong here
bunzip2 is for bzip2 compression; archive.tar.gz uses gzip.
- ✓
tar -tzf archive.tar.gz
Why this is correct
Correct: tar -t lists table of contents; -z handles gzip; -f specifies file.
- ✗
gunzip -l archive.tar.gz
Why it's wrong here
gunzip -l shows compression info, not the file list of the tar archive.
- ✓
zcat archive.tar.gz | tar -t
Why this is correct
Correct: zcat decompresses to stdout; pipe to tar -t lists contents.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LPIC-1 practice question is part of Courseiva's free LPI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LPIC-1 exam.