cpio

Copies files in and out of archives. Supports the following archive formats: cpio's custom binary, old ASCII, new ASCII, crc, HPUX binary, HPUX old ASCII, old tar, and POSIX.1 tar.

Take a list of file names from standard input and add them [o]nto an archive in cpio's binary format:

echo "{{file1}} {{file2}} {{file3}}" | cpio -o > {{archive.cpio}}

Copy all files and folders in a directory and add them [o]nto an archive, in [v]erbose mode:

find {{path/to/directory}} | cpio -ov > {{archive.cpio}}

P[i]ck all files from an archive, generating [d]irectories where needed, in [v]erbose mode:

cpio -idv < {{archive.cpio}}