Forrest logo
back to the cat tool

gunzip:tldr:b255c

gunzip: Decompress an archive from `stdin`.
$ cat ${path-to-archive-gz} | gunzip
try on your machine

This command is used to extract the contents of a compressed gzip archive file.

Let's break down the command:

  1. cat is a command-line utility that is used to display the contents of a file. In this case, it is being used to read the contents of the gzip archive file.

  2. ${path-to-archive-gz} is a placeholder indicating that you need to replace it with the actual path to the gzip archive file. You should provide the full path to the file, including the file name and extension.

  3. | (pipe) is a command that allows you to send the output of one command as input to another command. In this case, it takes the output of the cat command and sends it as input to the next command.

  4. gunzip is a command-line utility used to decompress gzip files. It takes the compressed input from the pipe and decompresses it.

So, combining all these components, the command reads the contents of the specified gzip archive file using cat, and then pipes it to gunzip to extract and decompress the contents.

This explanation was created by an AI. In most cases those are correct. But please always be careful and never run a command you are not sure if it is safe.
back to the cat tool