Opening a .tar.gz file with a single command

Question

When I download a .tar.gz file, I open it with two commands, first gunzip and then tar.

Is it possible to open it with just one command?

Answer 1

How do I extract a gz file?

Use guzip command as follows:

$ gunzip file.gz

OR

$ gzip -d file.gz

How do I extract a tar.gz or .tgz file?

Files with extension tar.gz or .tgz are tar files compressed with gzip. On Unix system extract them with following command:

$ gunzip < file.tar.gz | tar xvf -
$ gunzip < file.tgz | tar xvf -

If you have GNU tar (Linux system) you can use the z option directly:

$ tar xvzf file.tar.gz
$ tar xvzf file.tgz

To read more go to http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-compress-expand-gz-files/