Python - extract a tar.gz archive

# extract a tar.gz file with the tarfile module
import tarfile
 
# open the tarfile and use the 'r:gz' parameter
# the 'r:gz' mode enables gzip compression reading
tfile = tarfile.open("archive.tar.gz", 'r:gz')
 
# 99.9% of the time you just want to extract all
# the contents of the archive.
tfile.extractall('.')
 
# Maybe this isn't so amazing for you types out
# there using *nix, os x, or (anything other than
# windows that comes with tar and gunzip scripts).
# However, if you find yourself on windows and
# need to extract a tar.gz you're in for quite the
# freeware/spyware/spamware gauntlet.
 
# Python has everything you need built in!
# Hooray for python!
print "Done!"
 

Python - extract or unzip a tar file

# untar a tar file with python
# python can open, inspect contents, and extract
#   tar files with the built-in
#   tarfile module.
import tarfile
 
# tar file to extract
theTarFile = 'example.tar'
 
# tar file path to extract
extractTarPath = '.'
 
# open the tar file
tfile = tarfile.open(theTarFile)
 
if tarfile.is_tarfile(theTarFile):
    # list all contents
    print "tar file contents:"
    print tfile.list(verbose=False)
    # extract all contents
    tfile.extractall(extractTarPath)
else:
    print theTarFile + " is not a tarfile."