Pipe Viewer – A Unix Utility You Should Know About

Yes! My `,pv` is approximately: (probably a better way to make the k, but I stop once something is adequate; maybe I just need to make a `,,kof`)

    tar cpS "$@" --sort=name | pv -bratpes $(du -cks "$@"|sed -n '/.total$/ s/.total$//p')k

Which gives me progress bars for big copies like:

    ,pv files/ | tar xp -C /destination

    ,pv files/ | ssh overthere tar xp -C /destination