Extract Any Archive in Linux Using “e” Program

“e” is little tool you can extract almost any archive in Linux so you do not need to remember which tool and what command lines are necessary.

“e” Program Requirements

e is written in Ruby so you need to install this.

e uses the linux tool file to determine what kind of archive it is dealing with.

Installing prerequisites

Debian

#apt-get install ruby file gzip bzip2 tar p7zip \
unzip unrar lzop rzip rpm binutils lha arj cabextract unace ppmd

One more important program is lzma this is available in debian unstable packages so you need to make sure you have unstable souce list in your /etc/apt/sources.list

#apt-get install lzma

Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install ruby file gzip bzip2 tar p7zip \
unzip unrar lzop rzip rpm binutils lha arj cabextract unace ppmd

If you are using Ubuntu dapper you need to install lzma from source download from here and compile

Installing e Program

Download e program from here

copy e program into your /usr/local/bin directory

make it executable using chmod +x /usr/local/bin/e.

Using e Program with Examples

Now we will see some examples how e program

Extract a zip file

e file-name.zip

Extract a rar file

e file-name.rar

Extract several archives, one after another

e a.tar.gz b.tar.bz2 c.cab d.deb e.rpm

Extract every file from the current directory

e *

If possible, e identifies the file format by the content and not by the extension, so for most filetypes e can extract it no matter how you name it. It supports rar, zip, tar.gz, tar.bz2, cab, ace, 7zip, dep, rpm, lha, lzop, rzip, and some more; it is very easy to extend it to support other compression utilities.

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