avoid retyping the file name: nc -l 8888 | tar xf - tar cf - file | nc host.example.com 8888 Also, unnecessary process spawned with cat: nc.host.example.com 8

avoid retyping the file name: nc -l 8888 | tar xf - tar cf - file | nc host.example.com 8888 Also, unnecessary process spawned with cat: nc.host.example.com 8888 < file