$ ll
total 12
-rw-r--r-- 1 pb1c8891 pb1c8891 10240 2007-08-29 15:39 archive.tar
$ tar tf archive.tar
AA
BB
CCC
$ tar xf archive.tar $(tar tf archive.tar | grep "^A\|^B")
$ ll
total 12
-rw-r--r-- 1 pb1c8891 pb1c8891     0 2007-08-29 15:39 AA
-rw-r--r-- 1 pb1c8891 pb1c8891 10240 2007-08-29 15:39 archive.tar
-rw-r--r-- 1 pb1c8891 pb1c8891     0 2007-08-29 15:39 BB
$