Create zip archives on the shell

zip is a shell command to create zip archive files.

zip options archive_name file file …

Creating a zip archive

The main purpose of zip is to create a zip archive (if it doesn't exist) and add or replace files to/in it. The following command creates target.zip and adds three .txt files to it:

zip target.zip foo.txt bar.txt baz.txt

Github repository shell-commands, path: /zip/add-files.sh

Creating a zip archive from a directory

The command line option -r adds files recursively. Thus, it allows to create a zip file from an entire (sub-)directory:

zip dir.zip -r dir

Github repository shell-commands, path: /zip/add-directory.sh

The -r also adds hidden file (files whose name starts with a dot).

Showing a zip files' content

With unzip, the content of a zip file can be shown with the command line option -l:

unzip -l dir.zip

Github repository shell-commands, path: /zip/show-content.sh

Unzipping into a specific directory

The -d option of unzip allows to specify a directory into which the contents of a zip file should be extracted.

The following command extracts dir.zip into the directory /tmp (and creates /tmp/dir):

unzip dir.zip -d /tmp

Github repository shell-commands, path: /zip/unzip-into-dir.sh

Don't add full path

With -j (junk directory names), the path from the root to the «top leve directory» of the files will be ommited

$ zip -j archive.zip /path/to/a/directory/I/dont/want/to/see/in/the/archive

List of options

`-f`	freshen: update existing files only with changed files (i. e. don't add new files)
`-d`	delete entries in zipfile
`-r`	recurse into directories. Compare with `-R`
`-0`	store only
`-1`	compress faster
`-q`	quiet operation. Compare with `-v`
`-c`	Prompt for one-line comments for each entry. Compare with `-z`
`-@`	read names from stdin
`-x`	exclude the following names
`-F`	fix zipfile (-FF try harder)
`-FS`	filesync: update if date or size changed, delete if no OS match
`-A`	adjust self-extracting exe
`-T`	test zipfile integrity
`-y`	store symbolic links as the link instead of the referenced file
`-e`	encrypt
`-u`	update: only changed or new files
`-m`	move file into zipfile (i.e. delete files from file system after operation)
`-j`	junk (don't record) directory names
`-l`	convert LF to CR LF (-ll CR LF to LF)
`-9`	compress better
`-v`	verbose operation/print version info. Compare with `-q`
`-z`	Parmopt for comment for zipfile comment. Compare with `-c`
`-o`	make zipfile as old as latest entry
`-i`	include only the following names
`-D`	do not add directory entries
`-J`	junk zipfile prefix (unzipsfx)
`-X`	eXclude eXtra file attributes
`-n`	don't compress these suffixes
`-t`, `-tt`	Date filtering: exclude, include files modified after date, before date (date format `mmddyyyy` or `yyyy-mm-dd`)

Use -h2 to display more options.