diff --git a/utils.sh b/utils.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d15678b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# # ex = EXtractor for all kinds of archives
+# # usage: ex <file>
+ex ()
+{
+  if [ -f "$1" ] ; then
+    case "$1" in
+      *.tar.bz2)   tar xjf "$1"   ;;
+      *.tar.gz)    tar xzf "$1"   ;;
+      *.bz2)       bunzip2 "$1"   ;;
+      *.rar)       unrar x "$1"   ;;
+      *.gz)        gunzip "$1"    ;;
+      *.tar)       tar xf "$1"    ;;
+      *.tbz2)      tar xjf "$1"   ;;
+      *.tgz)       tar xzf "$1"   ;;
+      *.zip)       unzip "$1"     ;;
+      *.Z)         uncompress "$1";;
+      *.7z)        7z x "$1"      ;;
+      *.deb)       ar x "$1"      ;;
+      *.tar.xz)    tar xf "$1"    ;;
+      *.tar.zst)   tar xf "$1"    ;;
+      *)           echo "'$1' cannot be extracted via ex()" ;;
+    esac
+  else
+    echo "'$1' is not a valid file"
+  fi
+}