How to exctract a specific file from a .tar file

Say I would like to extract an old version of the oracle inventory, packed in a tar file called "oracle.tar". Change directory to the physical location you want to extract the files to:

cd /home/oracle

Find the path to the file you are interested in:

tar -tvf oracle.tar | grep oraInst.loc
-rw-rw---- oracle/dba        55 2018-01-25 15:02 ./oraInventory/oraInst.loc

Extract the tar file using the path displayed above:

tar xvf /u01/data/oracle.tar ./oraInventory/oraInst.loc