Centos 6/RHEL Zip a file/folder

Like the USB format commands, I sometimes forget the Zip file/folder commands so here it is to remind me.

First install Zip if not already there.

$ sudo yum -y install zip 

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Setting up Install Process
Package zip-3.0-1.el6.i686 already installed and latest version

The syntax to zip up a folder is

$ zip -r <zip_package_name.zip> <folder_to_be_zipped>

$ zip -9 -r <zip_package_name.zip> <folder_to_be_zipped>

$ zip <zip_file_name.zip> <file_to_be_zipped>

$ zip -9 <zip_file_name.zip> <file_to_be_zipped>

-9 is to invoke the maximum compression value, you can leave it off for the default compression.

So as an example, to zip up an xvid .avi file should the need arise.

$ zip -r factory.zip factory.avi  (avi files wont compress)

  adding: factory.avi (deflated 1%)

So we have a look inside with Xarchiver, there it is.


To zip up a test folder containing various compressible files and using default and maximum compression.

$ zip -r test1.zip test_folder

$ zip -9 -r test2.zip test_folder

Although it often does not seem that the compression makes all that much difference, those are the usual commands.

To unzip the folder or file just

$ unzip <zip_file/folder_name>

Zip folders in Linux are usable cross platform.

$ zip -h for more options and flags.

That's it, simple zipping and unzipping.





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