This is a one step command to extract and untar a tar.gz file.
tar zxvf filename.tar.gz
z = Gunzip(uncompress) it before extracting, used on file ending in .tar.gz or .tgz
x = Extract the contents of the TAR file
v = Verbose – display contents as it is tarring or extracting
f = Filename to follow
Note: If the file does not have “.gz” extension that means its already uncompressed and one has to just extract it using “tar xvf” command.
This is a two step command to extract and untar the file.
gunzip filename.tar.gz
tar xvf filename.tar