Howto: UNIX Zip Command

by on February 20, 2008 · 0 comments· last updated at April 16, 2010

How do I create a zip file under UNIX operating system using a shell prompt?

UNIX operating system provides the following two commands:

  1. zip - Command to package and compress (archive) files.
  2. unzip - Command to list, test and extract compressed files in a ZIP archive.

Open a shell prompt and type the following commands.

Task: Create a Zip File

To create a zip file, enter:

zip filename.zip input1.txt input2.txt resume.doc pic1.jpg

To include the contents of a directory in a zip archive, enter:

zip -r backup.zip /data

Files created by zip can normally be decoded by programs such as WinZip and Zip7 under MS-Windows.

Task: Decompress a zip

To decompress a zip file in Unix, enter:

unzip filename
unzip filename.zip


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