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Compress files and directories | LinuxGist

This article will provide details on how we can compress/decompress files and directories in Linux using command line tools. We will look into some commonly used tools like gzip, bzip2, xz, tar, and zip.

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By LinuxGist
5 min read

Files and Directories

Introduction

Compression and decompression of files and directories are common operations when using computers. Compression reduces the size of files and directories, making them easier to store and transfer. Decompression restores the original file or directory from a compressed format. Linux offers several powerful tools for compressing and decompressing files, each with its own advantages and use cases.

For this article we will give examples for a single files (foo.txt) and a directory (foo) containing multiple files.

Compressing Files

  1. gzip and gunzip
    • gzip: Compresses files using the DEFLATE algorithm.
    • gunzip: Decompresses files compressed by gzip.

    Example for foo.txt:

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    # Compress foo.txt
gzip foo.txt

# Verify compression (file will be renamed to foo.txt.gz)
ls -lh

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    -rw-r--r-- 1 harpal docker 28 Jan  5 12:51 foo.txt.gz
  2. bzip2 and bunzip2
    • bzip2: Compresses files using the Burrows-Wheeler algorithm.
    • bunzip2: Decompresses files compressed by bzip2.

    Example for foo.txt:

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    # Compress foo.txt
bzip2 foo.txt

# Verify compression (file will be renamed to foo.txt.bz2)
ls -lh

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    -rw-r--r-- 1 harpal docker 14 Jan  5 12:53 foo.txt.bz2
  3. xz and unxz
    • xz: Compresses files using the LZMA algorithm.
    • unxz: Decompresses files compressed by xz.

    Example for foo.txt:

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    # Compress foo.txt
xz foo.txt

# Verify compression (file will be renamed to foo.txt.xz)
ls -lh

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    -rw-r--r-- 1 harpal docker 32 Jan  5 12:54 foo.txt.xz
  4. tar with gzip, bzip2, or xz
    • tar: Creates archives and can be used with different compression tools.

    Example for foo.txt:

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    # Compress foo.txt into a gzip archive
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz foo.txt

# Verify compression (archive will be in the current directory)
ls -lh

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    -rw-r--r-- 1 harpal docker   0 Jan  5 12:55 foo.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 harpal docker 125 Jan  5 12:55 archive.tar.gz
  5. zip and unzip
    • zip: Compresses files into a ZIP archive.
    • unzip: Decompresses files compressed in a ZIP archive.

    Example for foo.txt:

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    # Compress foo.txt into a zip archive
zip archive.zip foo.txt

# Verify compression (archive will be in the current directory)
ls -lh
  6. 7z and 7za
    • 7z: A powerful compression tool supporting multiple formats.

    Installation in Ubuntu:

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    sudo apt install 7zip

    Installation in Fedora:

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    sudo dnf install 7zip

    Example for foo.txt:

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    # Compress foo.txt into a 7z archive
7z a archive.7z foo.txt

# Verify compression (archive will be in the current directory)
ls -lh

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    -rw-r--r-- 1 harpal docker  90 Jan  5 12:57 archive.7z

Compressing Directories

  1. tar with gzip, bzip2, or xz
    • tar: Creates archives and can be used with different compression tools.

    Example for foo directory:

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    # Compress the foo directory into a gzip archive
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz foo

# Verify compression (archive will be in the current directory)
ls -ltr

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     harpal@precision:$ tar -czvf archive.tar.gz foo
 foo/
 foo/file2
 foo/file3
 foo/file1
 harpal@precision:$ ls -ltr
 total 8
 drwxr-xr-x 2 harpal docker 4096 Jan  5 12:59 foo
 -rw-r--r-- 1 harpal docker  177 Jan  5 12:59 archive.tar.gz
  2. 7z and 7za
    • 7z: A powerful compression tool supporting multiple formats.

    Example for foo directory:

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    # Compress the foo directory into a 7z archive
7z a archive.7z foo

# Verify compression (archive will be in the current directory)
ls -ltr

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     harpal@precision:$ 7z a archive.7z foo

 7-Zip 23.01 (x64) : Copyright (c) 1999-2023 Igor Pavlov : 2023-06-20
 64-bit locale=en_GB.UTF-8 Threads:16 OPEN_MAX:1024

 Scanning the drive:
 1 folder, 3 files, 0 bytes

 Creating archive: archive.7z

 Add new data to archive: 1 folder, 3 files, 0 bytes

        
 Files read from disk: 0
 Archive size: 150 bytes (1 KiB)
 Everything is Ok
 harpal@precision:$ ls -ltr
 total 8
 drwxr-xr-x 2 harpal docker 4096 Jan  5 12:59 foo
 -rw-r--r-- 1 harpal docker  150 Jan  5 13:02 archive.7z

Decompressing Files and Directories

  1. gzip and gunzip
    • gzip: Compresses files using the DEFLATE algorithm.
    • gunzip: Decompresses files compressed by gzip.

    Example for foo.txt.gz:

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    # Decompress foo.txt.gz
gunzip foo.txt.gz

# Verify decompression (file will be renamed to foo.txt)
ls -lh
  2. bzip2 and bunzip2
    • bzip2: Compresses files using the Burrows-Wheeler algorithm.
    • bunzip2: Decompresses files compressed by bzip2.

    Example for foo.txt.bz2:

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    # Decompress foo.txt.bz2
bunzip2 foo.txt.bz2

# Verify decompression (file will be renamed to foo.txt)
ls -lh
  3. xz and unxz
    • xz: Compresses files using the LZMA algorithm.
    • unxz: Decompresses files compressed by xz.

    Example for foo.txt.xz:

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    # Decompress foo.txt.xz
unxz foo.txt.xz

# Verify decompression (file will be renamed to foo.txt)
ls -lh
  4. tar with gzip, bzip2, or xz
    • tar: Extracts archives created with different compression tools.

    Example for archive.tar.gz:

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    # Extract archive.tar.gz
tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz

# Verify extraction (files will be in the current directory)
ls -lh
  5. zip and unzip
    • zip: Compresses files into a ZIP archive.
    • unzip: Decompresses files compressed in a ZIP archive.

    Example for archive.zip:

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    # Extract archive.zip
unzip archive.zip

# Verify extraction (files will be in the current directory)
ls -lh
  6. 7z and 7za
    • 7z: A powerful compression tool supporting multiple formats.

    Example for archive.7z:

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    # Extract archive.7z
7z x archive.7z

# Verify extraction (files will be in the current directory)
ls -lh

Conclusion

These commands provide a comprehensive guide on compressing and decompressing files and directories in Linux using various tools and compression methods.

devops, commands
zip unzip tar untar cli command linux
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