> Extract tar.gz in new directory: tar zxvf package.tar.gz -C new_dir

For quick reference, since it seems to be hard[1], these are the flags you'll most need in tar:

    c = create
    x = extract
    v = verbose
    z = gzipped; compressed.
    f = file

So for example `tar xf example.tar` will extract that tar file. Or `tar cf example.tar .` will pack all files in the current directory to example.tar. For compression and verbosity, it would be `tar zvcf example.tar.gz .`. The .gz at the end is optional, but now others can see what kind of archive it is. Extract .tar.gz files with `tar xzf example.tar.gz`.

For bonus points, here is a poor man's version of scp/rsync:

    # sending computer
    tar czf - . | openssl aes-128-cbc -k 'secret' | nc -l 1
    # receiving computer
    nc 192.168.1.102 1 | openssl aes-128-cbc -d -k 'secret' | tar xf -

[1] Obligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/1168/

Edit: replaced all asterisks with a period (.) since it would become italics. Tar is recursive by default, so it should work the same.