Easily extract files

If you're like me and you can never remember which command and options to use to extract a file, and you use the friendly interactive shell (though it shouldn't be difficult to convert for other shells), then you'll like this.

It's a function to extract files based on the extension.

Example usage: extract foo.tar.gz bar.zip baz.bz2 qux.rar.

Save it as ~/.config/fish/functions/extract.fish

function extract --description "Expand or extract bundled & compressed files"
 for file in $argv
 if test -f $file
 echo -s "Extracting " (set_color --bold blue) $file (set_color normal)
 switch $file
 case *.tar
 tar -xvf $file
 case *.tar.bz2 *.tbz2
 tar -jxvf $file
 case *.tar.gz *.tgz
 tar -zxvf $file
 case *.bz2
 bunzip2 $file
 # Can also use: bzip2 -d $file
 case *.gz
 gunzip $file
 case *.rar
 unrar x $file
 case *.zip *.ZIP
 unzip $file
 case *.pax
 pax -r < $file
 case '*'
 echo "Extension not recognized, cannot extract $file"
 end
 else
 echo "$file is not a valid file"
 end
 end
end

Want to improve it? Send me a Pull Request!

There's a great fish tutorial available if you're unfamiliar with the syntax.