Hi All,

Been using Slack for a while now, all is going well....until I download source files. I am constantly having to refer to brunolinux.com for the correct syntax to extract the different file associations (tar.gz, tar.bz, tar.bz2 etc)

Is there a program I can install that will give me the ability to issue one command that will work out what type of file it is, then extract the files?

I tried googling, but couldn't express all the above in a query!

Thanks in advance,

Andy

You just have to remember to characters...

tar.gz/tgz:

tar -zxvf <file>

tar.bz2:

tar -jxvf <file>

Latest tar versions automatically checks which compression algoritthm to use, just run: tar xf file.tar.gz/bz2

And if you want to remain on console, you could use mc (midnight commander) it will allow you to decompress the files with a key and even see inside them before decompressing.

Sounds like this is a good candidate for a script.

Create yourself a file called "extractor" (or "billybob" or whatever you like). The file should contain something like:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Extractor script
#
# Usage: extractor <filename>
# Where filename is the name of the file from which you wish to do the extract.

INPUTFILE=$1
SUFFIX=`echo $INPUTFILE |awk -F\. '{$NF}'
BASEFILE=`echo $INPUTFILE | awk -F\. '{print $1"."$2}'

case $SUFFIX in
gz) gunzip $INPUTFILE ;;
bz) your command here ;;
bz2) your command here ;;
*) echo "Sorry I don't recognize the file type for $INPUTFILE "
esac

tar xvf $BASEFILE


The tar is the end of the script above. I'm too lazy to lookup up syntax for extracting the bz or bz2 so will let you do that - essentially just put it in those lines and use "$INPUTFILE" as the file you give the command (like the gz line).

The script would unzip your file (basically create one without the gz, bz or bz2 extension). It would then run the tar command to untar the unzipped file. The tar command actually has a gunzip flag built into it so you could modify it to do that instead - I put it at the bottom because the untar would be common action after each of the unzips.

NOTE: Above is informational only - no warranty expressed or implied - use it at your own risk.

Thanks all,

I'll try all of the suggestions. I like the idea of a script as I'm keen to learn a bit of bash.

I'll have a go at editting it, and get back to you.

Thanks again,

Andy

...sheesh...

1. right-click file,

2. choose "Extract Here"

3. done.

Really. I was thinking.... "Ark".... "FileRoller"..... Ofcourse, that only works if your at a GUI...

Real users don't use namby pamby GUIs

Seriously though didn't know that was an option in the GUI. I'd still do my script idea but its always interesting to learn something new.

that would be too easy........

......some of us just have to do it the hard way.........LOL

I prefer the command line myself, Im using e17 so until Evidence has all the necessary functions I'll do it the longway.

PS in xffm, you can't extract to a generated folder of the file name, it has to be an existing folder, afaik

GUI fronends to tar generally take considerably longer to extract stuff as well. If you omit verbosity at the prompt with tar then you can extract stuff way quicker than any other method. I generally use the prompt as well. depends on whether or not I feel like typing at the moment.

try extracting a kernel source with Ark or Fileroller and then execute tar (no -v) from the prompt at the same time. You'll be halfway done compiling the bzImage before the frontend completes...

Some of us want to do it as root without logging in as root. Do you have a way to act as root, right click and Extract? Please tell me, would love to do it that way!

If your system allows root actions for non-root users, it is a) somewhat unusual, and b) extremely insecure.

No, my system doesn't; but that's my point. I would like to sometime, do things graphically as root, (like extracting, browsing, deleting obsolete files). I can't, unless thru terminal. Or I don;t know how?

Ah.
You may want to use Gksu - it runs the program that follows as root. In other words, if you run the following:
gksu [path_to]/nautilus
- a window will pop up and prompt you to enter root password. After that, Nautilus will run as root until closed.
You may not have Gksu installed by default. It is good for making program buttons, too - because of the authentication box popping up. Nice UI feature.