OT: why tar is strange

[Radovan Garabik]

Stephen Hansen <stephen at cerebralmaelstrom.com> wrote:
 :     I don't think this is really a case of which one is more productive or
 : fast, but more on where you are at the time that you're doing it. If you're
 : sitting in a shell, then using 'tar zvxf' is just as fast as any GUI version
 : would be. But if you're already in a GUI and aren't working in a shell, then
 : starting up the shell and doing your tar'n isn't going to work for you then,
 : either.
 :     My problem with tar was not remembering the 'zxvf' part, but instead
 : remembering exactly how the file was either a) spelled, b) capitolized, or
 : c) punctuated(sp?). Even with an 'untar' script to do it, I just might
 : forget to capitolize a letter or put a '-' in the wrong place.

that is not a problem, just use TAB expansion.
tar xvzf a<TAB> and shell will fill the filename for you..
or list all matching filenames, then hit TAB second time to cycle through 
them... or type another letter, another TAB...

 :     Not that you can't use wildcards to make it quicker, I know, mind you..
 : but I don't think the shell approach would ever be quicker then be using
 : WinRAR (Am I the only one who doesn't use Winzip?) to right click on the
 : compressed-file and click 'Extract to...' or 'Extract to (name of file)\' in
 : that ever so friendly context menu. Two quick clicks :)

well, hitting <ENTER> <F5> <ENTER> in midnight commander is probably 
quickier :-)


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| Radovan Garabik http://melkor.dnp.fmph.uniba.sk/~garabik/ |
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