Zip & Tar Archiving Cheatsheet

Cheatsheet#zip-tar

Zip & Tar Archiving Cheatsheet

A complete guide for file archiving and compression on Linux using tar, gzip, bzip2, xz, zstd, zip, unzip, and 7z.

Tar Archives (`tar`)

tar (Tape Archive) bundles multiple files and directories into a single archive file, optionally compressing it using various algorithms.

Essential Flags

-c : Create a new archive.
-x : Extract files from an archive.
-t : List contents of an archive without extracting.
-v : Verbose (show files being processed).
-f : Specify archive filename (MUST be the last flag before filename).
-z : Compress with gzip (.tar.gz / .tgz).
-j : Compress with bzip2 (.tar.bz2).
-J : Compress with xz (.tar.xz).
--zstd : Compress with zstd (.tar.zst).
-C : Extract to a specific directory.

Create Archives

# Create uncompressed tar archive (.tar)
tar -cvf archive.tar /path/to/directory
 
# Create Gzip compressed tar (.tar.gz / .tgz)
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz /path/to/directory
 
# Create Bzip2 compressed tar (.tar.bz2)
tar -cjvf archive.tar.bz2 /path/to/directory
 
# Create XZ compressed tar (.tar.xz) - High compression ratio
tar -cJvf archive.tar.xz /path/to/directory
 
# Create Zstd compressed tar (.tar.zst) - Very fast & modern
tar --zstd -cvf archive.tar.zst /path/to/directory
 
# Exclude specific folder or files from tar archive
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz --exclude='node_modules' --exclude='.git' /path/to/directory

Extract Archives

# Extract archive to current directory
tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz
 
# Extract archive to a target directory (/tmp/extracted)
tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz -C /tmp/extracted
 
# Extract a specific file from tar archive
tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz path/to/file.txt

List Archive Contents

# View files inside tar archive without extracting
tar -tzvf archive.tar.gz

Zip & Unzip Commands

zip is the standard cross-platform compression format compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Compression

# Zip a single file
zip archive.zip file.txt
 
# Zip a directory recursively (-r)
zip -r archive.zip /path/to/directory
 
# Zip with maximum compression (-9)
zip -9 -r archive.zip /path/to/directory
 
# Create password-protected encrypted zip (-e)
zip -e -r secure_archive.zip /path/to/directory

Extraction

# Unzip archive to current directory
unzip archive.zip
 
# Unzip archive to a specific directory (-d)
unzip archive.zip -d /target/directory
 
# Test zip archive integrity (-t)
unzip -t archive.zip
 
# List contents of zip archive without extracting (-l)
unzip -l archive.zip

7-Zip (`7z`)

7z offers high compression ratios and supports multi-part split archives.

# Install 7z (p7zip)
# Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install p7zip-full
# RHEL/Fedora: sudo dnf install p7zip p7zip-plugins
 
# Create 7z archive
7z a archive.7z /path/to/directory
 
# Create password-protected 7z archive
7z a -p -mhe=on secure_archive.7z /path/to/directory
 
# Extract 7z archive
7z x archive.7z -o/target/directory
 
# List contents of 7z archive
7z l archive.7z

Standalone Compression Utilities (`gzip`, `bzip2`, `xz`, `zstd`)

Compress individual files directly (replaces original file with compressed .gz/.bz2/.xz file unless -k keep option is passed).

# Compress single file with Gzip (creates file.txt.gz)
gzip file.txt
 
# Decompress Gzip file (-d)
gzip -d file.txt.gz
gunzip file.txt.gz
 
# Compress file keeping original file (-k)
gzip -k file.txt
 
# Compress with Zstd (fastest decompression speed)
zstd file.txt
zstd -d file.txt.zst

Cheatsheets