To save disk space and time, you can pipe the download directly into the tar command without saving the archive locally. : wget -qO- https://example.com | tar -xzv Using curl : curl -L https://example.com | tar -xzv 3. Remote Downloads via SSH
: Add -C /path/to/folder to the end of your command. 2. Efficiency: Download and Extract in One Step Download tar
Downloading and extracting tar archives—often called "tarballs"—is a foundational task for Linux and macOS users, commonly used for software distribution and backups. A tar file (Tape Archive) bundles multiple files into one, while extensions like .tar.gz or .tgz indicate it has also been compressed. 1. Basic Download and Extract Commands To save disk space and time, you can
The most common way to handle these files is via the terminal using curl or wget . : wget https://example.com most languages have dedicated libraries:
If you need to archive a folder on a remote server and download it to your local machine immediately: ssh user@remote "tar -cz /path/to/dir" > local_file.tar.gz 4. Language-Specific Methods
curl -L -o file.tar.gz https://example.com (The -L flag follows redirects) : tar -xzvf file.tar.gz -x : Extract files. -z : Decompress (for .gz files). -v : Verbose (shows progress). -f : Use the specified file.
For automation in development, most languages have dedicated libraries: