Right near the top of `tar --help`:<p><pre><code>    tar -xf archive.tar  # Extract all files from archive.tar.
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If you work with lots of different types of archives or have a hard time remembering the various tools and arguments, I recommend dtrx (Do The Right Extraction). Super simple and it ensures you don&#x27;t accidentally dump a whole directory tree somewhere it shouldn&#x27;t. Assuming you have pip and hg installed, you can install the latest version to your user site with the following command:<p><pre><code>    pip2 install --user hg+http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.brettcsmith.org&#x2F;2007&#x2F;dtrx&#x2F;dtrx
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Then all you have to remember is `dtrx ARCHIVE...`