Zipping and Unzipping Files under Linux

by linuxBot on December 14, 2005 · 13 comments

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:

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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

1 anol September 5, 2006

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?

Reply

2 nixcraft September 5, 2006

You must install zip and unzip commands. Use yast or rpm command to install these programs.

Reply

3 michel March 25, 2008

thank man very useful for a non-developer type of guy like me.

Michel

Reply

4 Angel February 27, 2009

I dont understand how you add it all
if someone is kind enough to take some time and walk me threw it please add me to msn
its crazycat_69@hotmail.com

Thx angel

P.S i am not very computer smart
and i am really disllinking ubuntu
because i cant get thing working on it

Reply

5 Amir zaman December 9, 2009

salam!
I have installed linux red hat 5 and i want to zip my folder containing pictures.
thanks.
Regards
Amir zaman.

Reply

6 Greg K September 1, 2010

I’d like to zip into parts, 499mb each from 1 ssh command

Reply

7 Satz April 28, 2011

hi i am new in linux. how to execute a zip file in linux…

Reply

8 Ganapathy S June 3, 2011

how to extract rar file in redhat linux system please navigate me?

Reply

9 sibaram June 6, 2011

Hi….
I am new in ubuntu and want to install winzip software,
Plz kindly tell me what is the command to install winzip…

Reply

10 Shawn July 21, 2011

Hi,
Can someone tell me how to put the zip file in another directory? I tried -d but that didn’t work, I got the error: ‘zip error: Nothing to do!’

Reply

11 Shawn July 21, 2011

I need to do it in one line btw, so I can’t use cp or mv
I’m running it with a php script.
Thanks.

Reply

12 Srinidhi January 23, 2012

can any 1 help me

How to rename or replays a filefolder in odi O.S Linux redhat

Reply

13 steve January 24, 2012

Shawn cp /directory /home/name/place you want
Ganapathy tar -zxvf filename.tar.gz

Reply

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