Zip command options

When compiled with Unicode support enabled on platforms that support wide characters, zip now stores, in addition to the standard local path for backward compatibility, the UTF-8 translation of the path. This provides a common universal character set for storing paths that allows these paths to be fully extracted on other systems that support Unicode and to match as close as possible on systems that don't.

On Win32 systems where paths are internally stored as Unicode but represented in the local character set, it's possible that some paths will be skipped during a local character set directory scan. Be aware that console windows on Win32 and Unix, for example, sometimes don't accurately show all characters due to how each operating system switches in character sets for display.

However, directory navigation tools should show the correct paths if the needed fonts are loaded. This version of zip has updated command line processing and support for long options. A short option that takes a value is last in an argument and anything after it is taken as the value. If the option can be negated and " - " immediately follows the option, the option is negated.

Short options can also be given as separate arguments. Short options in general take values either as part of the same argument or as the following argument. The -x and -i options accept lists of values and use a slightly different format described below. See the -x and -i options. Values can also follow the argument. Long option names can be shortened to the shortest unique abbreviation. See the option descriptions below for which support long options.

To avoid confusion, avoid abbreviating a negatable option with an embedded dash " - " at the dash if you plan to negate it the parser would consider a trailing dash, such as for the option --some-option using --some- as the option, as part of the name rather than a negating dash.

This may be changed to force the last dash in --some- to be negating in the future. Copy mode will convert stream entries using data descriptors and which should be compatible with most unzips to normal entries which should be compatible with all unzips , except if standard encryption was used.

For archives with encrypted entries, zipcloak will decrypt the entries and convert them to normal entries. On Risc and VMS, there are additional special environment variables; consult your documentation for details. Creates the archive stuff.

The same as the above command, but also includes files beginning with a dot except for the special directory names ". Zips the entire subdirectory foo into an archive, foo. Same as the above command, but unlike -r , the -j option will not record the name of the directory, just the names of the files themselves. Creates a split archive of the directory foo with splits no bigger than 2 GB each.

If foo contained 5 GB of contents and the contents were stored in the split archive without compression to make this example simple , this would create three splits, split. Update existing entries and add new files and create it if the archive does not exist. This option is the default mode. Update existing entries if newer on the file system and add new files.

If the archive does not exist issue warning then create a new archive. Update existing entries of an archive if newer on the file system. Does not add new files to the archive.

Select entries in an existing archive and copy them to a new archive. This new mode is similar to update but command line patterns select entries in the existing archive rather than files from the file system and it uses the --out option to write the resulting archive to a new file rather than update the existing archive, leaving the original archive unchanged. Adjust self-extracting executable archive. A self-extracting executable archive is created by prepending the "SFX" stub to an existing archive.

The -A option tells zip to adjust the entry offsets stored in the archive to take into account this "preamble" data. This option is a Windows-only option. Once archive is created and tested if -T is used, which is recommended , clear the archive bits of files processed.

Once the bits are cleared they are cleared permanently. You may want to use the -sf show files option to store the list of files processed in case the archive operation must be repeated. Also consider using the -MM must match option. Be sure to check out -DF as a possibly better way to do incremental backups. This option is a Windows-only option which only includes files that have the archive bit set.

Directories are not stored when -AS is used, though by default the paths of entries, including directories, are stored as usual and can be used by most unzips to recreate directories. The archive bit is set by the operating system when a file is modified and, if used with -AC , -AS can provide an incremental backup capability.

However, other applications can modify the archive bit and it may not be a reliable indicator of which files have changed since the last archive operation.

Alternative ways to create incremental backups are using -t to use file dates, though this won't catch old files copied to directories being archived, and -DF to create a differential archive. Use the specified path for the temporary zip archive. This option is useful when updating an existing archive and the file system containing this old archive does not have enough space to hold both old and new archives at the same time.

It may also be useful when streaming in some cases to avoid the need for data descriptors. Note that using this option may require zip take additional time to copy the archive file when done to the destination file system. Add one-line comments for each file. File operations adding, updating are done first, and the user is then prompted for a one-line comment for each file. Enter the comment followed by return, or just return for no comment. Remove delete entries from a zip archive.

Note that shell pathname expansion has been inhibited with backslashes, so that zip can see the asterisks , enabling zip to match on the contents of the zip archive instead of the contents of the current directory.

See the option -ic to ignore case in the archive. Display dots while each entry is zipped except on ports that have their own progress indicator. See -ds below for setting dot size. The default is a dot every 10 MB of input file processed. The -v option also displays dots previously at a much higher rate than this but now -v also defaults to 10 MB and this rate is also controlled by -ds.

On MacOS, include only data-fork of files zipped into the archive. Good for exporting files to foreign operating-systems. Resource-forks will be ignored at all. Display progress dots for the archive instead of for each file.

The command zip -qdgds 10m Set amount of input file processed for each dot displayed. See -dd to enable displaying dots. Setting this option implies -dd. Size is in the format nm where n is a number and m is a multiplier. The default is 10 MB. The -v option also displays dots and now defaults to 10 MB also. This rate is also controlled by this option.

A size of 0 turns dots off. This option does not control the dots from the "Scanning files" message as zip scans for input files. The dot size for that is fixed at 2 seconds or a fixed number of entries, whichever is longer.

Display the volume disk number each entry is being read from, if reading an existing archive, and where it's being written. Do not create entries in the zip archive for directories. Directory entries are created by default so that their attributes can be saved in the archive.

Create an archive that contains all new and changed files since the original archive was created. For this to work, the input file list and current directory must be the same as during the original zip operation. For example, if the existing archive was created using zip -r foofull. Note that the timezone environment variable TZ should be set according to the local timezone for this option to work correctly. A change in timezone since the original archive was created could result in no times matching and all files being included.

A possible approach to backing up a directory might be to create a normal archive of the contents of the directory as a full backup, then use this option to create incremental backups.

Encrypt the contents of the zip archive using a password that is entered on the terminal in response to a prompt this will not be echoed; if standard error is not a tty , zip will exit with an error. The password prompt is repeated to save the user from typing errors. Replace freshen an existing entry in the zip archive only if it has been modified more recently than the version already in the zip archive; unlike the update option -u this will not add files that are not already in the zip archive.

For example: zip -f foo This command should be run from the same directory from which the original zip command was run, since paths stored in zip archives are always relative. Note that the timezone environment variable TZ should be set according to the local timezone for the -f , -u and -o options to work correctly. The reasons behind this are somewhat subtle but have to do with the differences between the Unix-format file times always in GMT and most of the other operating systems always local time and the necessity to compare the two.

Leave off the DDD if there is no daylight savings time. Fix the zip archive. The -F option can be used if some portions of the archive are missing, but requires a reasonably intact central directory. The input archive is scanned as usual, but zip ignores some problems. The resulting archive should be valid, but any inconsistent entries will be left out.

When doubled as in -FF , the archive is scanned from the beginning and zip scans for special signatures to identify the limits between the archive members. Now we have understood the depression unzip and compression zip concept and we have seen how to manipulate compressed files using different options.

ZIP is a perfect technique when there is less bandwidth or internet speed and you want to transfer a bunch of files. Then now using this command you can zip and transfer the files in a very efficient manner. This is a guide to Zip Command in Linux. Here we discuss the syntax to extract zip files along with the different commands of zip in Linux. You may also look at the following articles to learn more —. Submit Next Question. By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Forgot Password?

These characteristics make 7-Zip easy to download and be used for personal or commercial purposes. By using the command-line version, you can access all features from the terminal even without a Graphical User Interface GUI. Before we discuss any further about the different commands for 7-Zip, check out 7-Zip for more of our helpful guides.

Is 7Zip safe? These are some of the questions that you should also clarify before learning how to use 7Zip. You also need to understand the issues with 7-Zip cannot open file as archive that the tool sometimes experiences.

The 7z. The 7z format has several main features that include open architecture, high ratio, and secure AES — encryption options. This software lets you use any compression or encryption method. The format supports file sizes of up to GB and Unicode file names. The 7-Zip command-line executable file is the 7za.

You can use the EXE file to run commands on archives. Below is a step-by-step guide to getting you started on the command line:. Next tar command in Linux with examples.

Recommended Articles. Article Contributed By :. Easy Normal Medium Hard Expert. Writing code in comment? Please use ide. Load Comments.

What's New. Most popular in Linux-Unix.