Zip is a compress tool which is available in most of the operating systems such as Linux/Unix, Apple OS, Microsoft OS etc. In this post we will see how to install, use and tips about zip command.
How to install zip and unzip command in Linux?
On Redhat, Centos and Fedora based machines
yum install zip yum install unzip
On Ubuntu and Debian based machines
apt-get install zip apt-get install unzip
We will learn below requirements with zip command examples
Zipping individual files
Zip a folder
Zip a folder and it’s all content
Zip a folder to a different location
Below are some zip commands which are frequently used and we will learn them with some good examples
Example1: Syntax for zipping a file or folder.
Syntax:
zip archivename.zip file1 file2 folder1
Note: The extension .zip is not mandatory and this is useful only to identify the file zip file.
Example2: Zip individual files to a zip archive
zip abc.zip file1 file2 file3
Output:
surendra@linuxnix:~/test/1$ ls -l file* -rw-rw-r-- 1 surendra surendra 188 May 8 10:12 file1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 surendra surendra 48894 May 8 10:12 file2 -rw-rw-r-- 1 surendra surendra 41 May 8 10:12 file3 surendra@linuxnix:~/test/1$ zip abc.zip file1 file2 file3 adding: file1 (deflated 40%) adding: file2 (deflated 54%) adding: file3 (deflated 12%) surendra@linuxnix:~/test/1$ du -hs abc.zip 24K abc.zip
Example 3: Zipping a folder is a tricky thing as by default zip will not zip entire folder content such as sub folders and files let us see how a zip command work by default on a folder
zip abc.zip 1/
Output:
surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ ls 1 surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ zip abc.zip 1/ adding: 1/ (stored 0%) surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ ls -l total 8 drwxrwxr-x 5 surendra surendra 4096 May 8 10:12 1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 surendra surendra 154 May 8 10:15 abc.zip
If you observe the folder is zipped and 0% is stored which means it did not zip entire folder. To zip first level of folder content use * as shown below
Output: surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ rm abc.zip surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ zip abc.zip 1/* adding: 1/2/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/3/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/abc.zip (stored 0%) adding: 1/bash-support.zip (stored 0%) adding: 1/file1 (deflated 40%) adding: 1/file2 (deflated 54%) adding: 1/file3 (deflated 12%)
Actually there are sub folders and files in 1 folder, in order to zip all content of a folder use -r option
zip -r abc.zip 1/
Output:
surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ du -hs abc.zip 188K abc.zip surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ rm abc.zip surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ zip -r abc.zip 1/ adding: 1/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/bash-support.zip (stored 0%) adding: 1/file2 (deflated 54%) adding: 1/2/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/2/5/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/2/5/test.sh (deflated 57%) adding: 1/2/6/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/2/6/dump2.doc (deflated 63%) adding: 1/3/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/3/5/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/3/5/abc.txt (deflated 40%) adding: 1/3/5/dump2.doc (deflated 63%) adding: 1/file3 (deflated 12%) adding: 1/abc.zip (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/7/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/7/dump1.doc (deflated 63%) adding: 1/4/7/dump.doc (deflated 63%) adding: 1/4/6/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/6/dump.doc (deflated 63%) adding: 1/file1 (deflated 40%) surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ du -hs abc.zip 1.3M abc.zip
If you observe the size of abc.zip is increased considerably and the out of the commend will give you what files are zipped.
Example 4: How to zip files which are not located in present directory? Suppose I want to zip /home/surendra/test/1 folder in /tmp and I am at /var folder?
cd /var zip -r /tmp/abc.zip /home/surendra/test/1 du -hs /tmp/abc.zip
If you observe we taken zip in /tmp directory.
Some times we want to take backups in a tape archive. To directly zip a folder on to tape archive use below command
zip -r - . | dd of=/dev/nrst1 obs=4k
where nrst1 is my tape archive
Example5: To compress fast use -1 option and for compress better ratios use -9
zip -1 -r abc.zip 1/
Clipped output for below time command
surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ time zip -1 -r abc.zip 1/ updating: 1/ (stored 0%) ..... updating: 1/file1 (deflated 37%) real 0m0.125s user 0m0.043s sys 0m0.003s surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ time zip -9 -r abc.zip 1/ updating: 1/ (stored 0%) ..... updating: 1/file1 (deflated 40%) real 0m0.150s user 0m0.147s sys 0m0.003s
If you observe the time taken for zip -9 is slightly greater than zip -1 command
Ok, now we are done with basic zipping files let see how to list, update, delete files in a zip file.
Example6: How to exclude a file in a folder when compressing it.
zip -r abc.zip 1/ -x 1/bash-support.zip
Note: When you want to exclude a file/folder use -x option at the end of zip command as show above
Output: surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ zip -r abc.zip 1/ -x 1/bash-support.zip adding: 1/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/file2 (deflated 54%) adding: 1/2/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/2/5/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/2/5/test.sh (deflated 57%) adding: 1/2/6/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/2/6/dump2.doc (deflated 63%) adding: 1/3/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/3/5/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/3/5/abc.txt (deflated 40%) adding: 1/3/5/dump2.doc (deflated 63%) adding: 1/file3 (deflated 12%) adding: 1/abc.zip (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/7/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/7/dump1.doc (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/7/dump.doc (deflated 63%) adding: 1/4/6/ (stored 0%) adding: 1/4/6/dump.doc (stored 0%) adding: 1/file1 (deflated 40%) surendra@linuxnix:~/test$
Eample7: List all the files stored in a zip file
unzip -l abc.zip or
less abc.zip or zipinfo -1 abc.zip
Output:
surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ unzip -l abc.zip Archive: abc.zip Length Date Time Name --------- ---------- ----- ---- 0 2014-05-08 10:12 1/ 143449 2014-05-08 10:07 1/bash-support.zip 48894 2014-05-08 10:12 1/file2 0 2014-05-08 10:09 1/2/ 0 2014-05-08 10:07 1/2/5/ 543 2014-05-08 10:07 1/2/5/test.sh 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/2/6/ 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/2/6/dump2.doc 0 2014-05-08 10:09 1/3/ 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/3/5/ 188 2014-05-08 10:07 1/3/5/abc.txt 88895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/3/5/dump2.doc 41 2014-05-08 10:12 1/file3 23186 2014-05-08 10:12 1/abc.zip 0 2014-05-08 10:09 1/4/ 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/7/ 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/7/dump1.doc 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/7/dump.doc 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/6/ 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/6/dump.doc 188 2014-05-08 10:12 1/file1 --------- ------- 3160964 21 files
Example 8: Delete a file in an archive without extracting entire zip file.
zip -d abc.zip path/to/file
Output:
surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ zip -d abc.zip 1/bash-support.zip deleting: 1/bash-support.zip surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ unzip -l abc.zip Archive: abc.zip Length Date Time Name --------- ---------- ----- ---- 0 2014-05-08 10:12 1/ 48894 2014-05-08 10:12 1/file2 0 2014-05-08 10:09 1/2/ 0 2014-05-08 10:07 1/2/5/ 543 2014-05-08 10:07 1/2/5/test.sh 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/2/6/ 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/2/6/dump2.doc 0 2014-05-08 10:09 1/3/ 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/3/5/ 188 2014-05-08 10:07 1/3/5/abc.txt 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/3/5/dump2.doc 41 2014-05-08 10:12 1/file3 23186 2014-05-08 10:12 1/abc.zip 0 2014-05-08 10:09 1/4/ 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/7/ 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/7/dump1.doc 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/7/dump.doc 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/6/ 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/4/6/dump.doc 188 2014-05-08 10:12 1/file1 --------- ------- 3017515 20 files
If you observe there is no bash-support.zip file in my zip file
Example9: To update a particular file which is modified and we want to update our zip file with this update use -u option
zip -u abc.zip 1/2/6/dump2.doc
output(Clipped):
surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ unzip -l abc.zip Archive: abc.zip Length Date Time Name --------- ---------- ----- ---- 0 2014-05-08 10:12 1/ 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/2/6/ 588895 2014-05-08 10:08 1/2/6/dump2.doc 188 2014-05-08 10:12 1/file1 --------- ------- 3017515 20 files surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ vi 1/2/6/dump2.doc surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ zip -u abc.zip 1/2/6/dump2.doc updating: 1/2/6/dump2.doc (deflated 63%) surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ unzip -l abc.zip Archive: abc.zip Length Date Time Name --------- ---------- ----- ---- 0 2014-05-08 10:12 1/ 0 2014-05-08 10:08 1/2/6/ 588912 2014-05-08 11:03 1/2/6/dump2.doc 188 2014-05-08 10:12 1/file1 --------- ------- 3017532 20 files
Example10: Update all the files in zip file if the original files are modified
zip -fr abc.zip 1/
Output: surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ > 1/4/6/dump.doc surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ > 1/4/7/dump1.doc surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ zip -fr abc.zip 1/ freshening: 1/2/6/ (stored 0%) freshening: 1/4/7/dump1.doc (stored 0%) freshening: 1/4/6/dump.doc (stored 0%)
if you observe I emptied dump.doc and dump1.doc using “>” in 1/4/6 and 1/4/7 folders respectively and that is the reason only these files are updated to my zip file.
Now comes the extracting..
Example 11: Extract your files from a zip folder
unzip abc.zip
Example12: To extract to a specific directory use -d option
unzip abc.zip -d /tmp
Output:
surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ unzip abc.zip -d test/ Archive: abc.zip creating: test/1/ inflating: test/1/file2 creating: test/1/2/ creating: test/1/2/5/ inflating: test/1/2/5/test.sh creating: test/1/2/6/ inflating: test/1/2/6/dump2.doc creating: test/1/3/ creating: test/1/3/5/ inflating: test/1/3/5/abc.txt inflating: test/1/3/5/dump2.doc inflating: test/1/file3 extracting: test/1/abc.zip creating: test/1/4/ creating: test/1/4/7/ extracting: test/1/4/7/dump1.doc inflating: test/1/4/7/dump.doc creating: test/1/4/6/ extracting: test/1/4/6/dump.doc inflating: test/1/file1 surendra@linuxnix:~/test$ cd test/ surendra@linuxnix:~/test/test$ ls 1
Example13: Extract specific file from an archive
unzip abc.zip 1/2/5/test.sh
In our next post, we will see other zipping software’s available.
For your Secure Virtual Desktop Interface, you can use cloud based windows desktop by Apps4Rent.com .
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