Zipping and Unzipping Files under Linux
Asked by Yamir
Q. Windows has winzip program what about Linux; I cannot find anything under Application menu. I am using Debian Linux distribution. How do I zip and unzip file under Linux?
A. Linux has both zip and unzip program. By default, these utilities not installed (see Linux winzip like GUI tools/utilities below). To install them from shell prompt (open shell prompt by clicking on Application > System Tools > Terminal ). You must be a root user, Type following two commands to install zip and unzip program:
# apt-get install zip # apt-get install unzip
If you are Red Hat Linux/Fedora user then you can use yum command to install zip and unzip program:
# yum install zip # yum install unzip
- zip is a compression and file packaging utility for Linux and Unix (including FreeBSD, Solaris etc).
- unzip will list, test, or extract files from a ZIP archive files.
zip examples:
Creates the archive data.zip and puts all the files in the current directory in it in compressed form
$ zip data *
No need to add .zip extension or suffix as it is added automatically by zip command.
To zip up an entire directory (including all subdirectories), the command:
$ zip -r data *
unzip example:
To use unzip to extract all files of the archive pics.zip into the current directory & subdirectories:
$ unzip pics.zip
You can also test pics.zip, printing only a summary message indicating whether the archive is OK or not:
$ unzip -tq pics.zip
To extract the file called cv.doc from pics.zip:
$ unzip pics.zip cv.doc
To extract all files into the /tmp directory:
$ unzip pics.zip -d /tmp
To list all files from pics.zip:
$ unzip -l pics.zip
Linux GUI packages like Winzip:
You can use graphics packages
* KDE Desktop: Ark is an Archive Manager for the KDE Desktop. You can start Ark from Application > Accessories.
* GNOME Desktop: File Roller ia an Archive Manager for the GNOME Desktop.
For more information please consult following resources:
- Compressing files under Linux or UNIX cheat sheet
- Read man pages of zip and unzip (type man zip or man unzip at shell prompt)
- ark handbook
- File Roller home page
You may also be interested in other helpful articles:
- Download of the day: e tool to extract rpm, rar, zip and other formats under Linux
- Best Linux / UNIX Posts of 2007: Part ~ IV
- How To Extract an RPM Package Without Installing It (rpm extract command)
- nixCraft FAQ Roundup ~ Nov 1, 2007
- Linux text utilities - an overview of text tools for noobs
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Tags: application_menu, debian_linux_distribution, Linux, unzip, unzip_program, winzip_program, zip
I have tried the command that specified, but here it won’t work(am using linux suse 8.2′ ), can you please clarify why it’s not working?
You must install zip and unzip commands. Use yast or rpm command to install these programs.
thank man very useful for a non-developer type of guy like me.
Michel