Archive & Compression

Create, extract, and manage compressed archives. Cross-platform (macOS, Linux).

tar + gzip (.tar.gz / .tgz)

Create:

code

exec: tar -czf /path/to/archive.tar.gz -C /path/to/parent directory_name

Extract:

code

exec: tar -xzf /path/to/archive.tar.gz -C /path/to/destination

List contents:

code

exec: tar -tzf /path/to/archive.tar.gz

tar + bzip2 (.tar.bz2)

Create:

code

exec: tar -cjf /path/to/archive.tar.bz2 -C /path/to/parent directory_name

Extract:

code

exec: tar -xjf /path/to/archive.tar.bz2 -C /path/to/destination

tar + xz (.tar.xz) — best compression ratio

Create:

code

exec: tar -cJf /path/to/archive.tar.xz -C /path/to/parent directory_name

Extract:

code

exec: tar -xJf /path/to/archive.tar.xz -C /path/to/destination

zip (.zip)

Create:

code

exec: zip -r /path/to/archive.zip /path/to/directory

Extract:

code

exec: unzip /path/to/archive.zip -d /path/to/destination

List contents:

code

exec: unzip -l /path/to/archive.zip

Add files to existing zip:

code

exec: zip -g /path/to/archive.zip /path/to/newfile.txt

Create with password:

code

exec: zip -e -r /path/to/secure.zip /path/to/directory

gzip (single file)

Compress:

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exec: gzip /path/to/file.txt

Decompress:

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exec: gunzip /path/to/file.txt.gz

Keep original:

code

exec: gzip -k /path/to/file.txt

7-Zip (.7z) — requires p7zip

Create:

code

exec: 7z a /path/to/archive.7z /path/to/directory

Extract:

code

exec: 7z x /path/to/archive.7z -o/path/to/destination

List:

code

exec: 7z l /path/to/archive.7z

Inspect Any Archive

File type detection:

code

exec: file /path/to/archive

Exclude Patterns

Tar with exclusions:

code

exec: tar -czf /path/to/archive.tar.gz --exclude='*.log' --exclude='node_modules' -C /path/to/parent directory_name

Zip with exclusions:

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exec: zip -r /path/to/archive.zip /path/to/directory -x "*.log" "*/node_modules/*"

Split Large Archives

Create split archive (100MB parts):

code

exec: tar -czf - /path/to/large_dir | split -b 100m - /path/to/archive.tar.gz.part

Reassemble and extract:

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exec: cat /path/to/archive.tar.gz.part* | tar -xzf - -C /path/to/destination

Compare Archive Contents

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exec: diff <(tar -tzf archive1.tar.gz | sort) <(tar -tzf archive2.tar.gz | sort)

Notes

•tar, gzip, zip/unzip are pre-installed on macOS and most Linux distros.
•xz offers the best compression ratio but is slower.
•7z needs p7zip or p7zip-full (install via brew install p7zip or apt install p7zip-full).
•Use -C with tar to control the base directory in the archive.
•For Windows compatibility, .zip is the safest format.