Extracting from a tar file

Applications UNIX Desktop Questions & Answers
1

Can I extract files from an archive file (tar), where the filename includes the full directory path, to a different directory?

For example the archive files may have a filename of
/SrcFiles/XXX/filename.dat
and I want to extract it to /SrcFiles/YYY/filename.dat. Since the archive file was created on another server, the /SrcFiles/YYY directory does not exist on the server I want to extract it to.

I understand I could create this directory temporarily on the target server, but there are reasons why I can not do that. Do I have any other options?

2

I chose the wrong Forum. I'm a newbie, and am just getting my feet wet. The should be posted to UNIX for Dummies, not UNIX Desktop for Dummies. I'm going to post this again to the right Forum.