OK, fianlly go it figured out. Tried to untar a file and used this command: gunzip -c samp_db.tar.gz | tar xvf I switched the -h to -f as suggested in a reply post to my origional question. The response I received was; Old option 'f' requires an argument. Try 'tar --help' for more information. Tar help produced a couple of arguments followed by this very informative information. GNU tar cannot READ NOR PRODUCE, posix archives. If POSIXLY CORRECT is set in the environment, GNU extensions are disallowed with --posix. Support for POSIX is only partially implemented, don't count on it yet. ARCHIVE may be FILE, HOST:FILE or USER@HOST:FILE and FILE, maybe a file or a device. *This* 'tar' defaults to '-f- -b20. After reading this I typed info tar, read the file on extraction and issued the following command: gunzip -c samp_db.tar.gz | tar xv The utilities did a ducky job of unzipping and depositing the files into the directory just the way I wanted them to. I am very pleased that everyone was willing to help, thank you for your information and the time you took to inform me. Rusty -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/