-C option is ignored when calling tar via PHP

If I run my PHP file from the shell, then the tar command extracts to the directory 开发者_如何学GoI am in, rather than the one I specified using -C

My command is

passthru("tar xvf $file $tarfile/application $tarfile/application_detail $tarfile/application_device_type $tarfile/genre_application -C /var/www/vhosts/httpdocs/fred"); 

How can I have it extract the specific files to the specified destination directory?

The filename is filename.tgz

At the moment you have:

tar xvf tarfile paths... -C target

Change the order of the arguments to:

tar xvf tarfile -C target paths...