How to manually extract individual files from a cPanel backup with the tar utility

Introduction

cPanel offers a GUI tool for restoring individual files if you prefer that instead of the command line:  File and Directory Restoration

It may be ideal in some situations to manually extract individual files from a backup via the command line. The following guide explains the process.

Procedure

1. Login to your server via SSH or terminal.

2. Execute the following command to view a list of all of the files within a backup:

tar -tvf /path/to/backup/file.tar.gz | less

3. Once you know what file you need to restore, use the following command to extract that file:

tar -zxvf /path/to/backup/file.tar.gz path/to/file/within/backup.txt