How to check if a Unix .tar.gz file is a valid file without uncompressing?

What about just getting a listing of the tarball and throw away the output, rather than decompressing the file? tar -tzf my_tar.tar.gz >/dev/null Edited as per comment. Thanks zrajm! Edit as per comment. Thanks Frozen Flame! This test in no way implies integrity of the data. Because it was designed as a tape archival utility … Read more