[SOLVED] How to add progress bar to a somearchive.tar.xz extract

How to add progress bar to a somearchive.tar.xz extract

I'd like to print at the very least print # files extracted, from running a tarball extract

xz -dc /path/to/somearchive.tar.xz | sudo tar xvpf - -C /path/to/some_directory

I was thinking of using the "\r" as mentioned in this question, for instance

num=0
when [\n received]
    num=$(($num + 1))
    echo -ne "$num files extracted \r"
end when

my bash skills fail me.

Solution

Using `pv` to pipe the file to `tar`.

Firstly, you'll need to install pv, which on macOS can be done with:
```
brew install pv
```
On Debian or Ubuntu, it can be done with: apt install pv (Thanks @hyperbola!).
Pipe the compressed file with pv to the tar command:
```
pv mysql.tar.gz | tar -xz   
```

Here's the sample output of this command:

For those curious, this works by pv knowing the total file size of the file you pass it and how much of it has been "piped" to the tar command. It uses those two things to determine the current progress, the average speed, and the estimated completion time. Neat!

How to add progress bar to a somearchive.tar.xz extract

Using pv to pipe the file to tar.

Using `pv` to pipe the file to `tar`.