diff --git a/profile b/profile
index 78fc66a..2851f6c 100644
--- a/profile
+++ b/profile
@@ -26,5 +26,29 @@ source ~/.autoenv/activate.sh
 # custom aliases
 [[ -f ~/.config/profile//aliases.sh ]] && . ~/.config/profile/aliases.sh
 
+# # ex - archive extractor
+# # 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      ;;
+      *)           echo "'$1' cannot be extracted via ex()" ;;
+    esac
+  else
+    echo "'$1' is not a valid file"
+  fi
+}
+
 
 # vim: filetype=sh