CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsbatch-filecommand-linecommand-prompt
PS Kumar
PS Kumar

Reputation: 2446

How to zip a file using cmd line?

I want to zip a directory using the batch file command (Windows XP batch file).

For example, if I want to unzip a file means I can use the jar -xf file.zip(java) bat file command.

Like that I want a command line batch to zip a directory.

Upvotes: 149

Views: 639759

Answers (8)

K J
K J

Reputation: 11939

At the time of the Original Question the correct answer should have been use Windows JScript or VBS via command line which at the time such methods could build upto 2 GB zip using ADODB.Stream.writeFile(destination,ZIP_DATA);

enter image description here

for a modernised copy which still works well in Windows 10 see https://github.com/npocmaka/batch.scripts/blob/master/hybrids/jscript/zipjs.bat

The CMD tool for zip handling on newer Windows 10, and carried over to Win 11 is TAR,

however it was not "native" command line in Windows 8 or earlier, since that system inbuilt dll feature was there as part of explorer, since I think, at least XP"

see Tar --help

To list use Tar -tf file.zip

To extract use Tar -m -xf file.zip

So the OP wanted save to zip

To compress use Tar -a -cf new.zip files

Other options are available, but I think to work with "nested" archive files requires peeling the levels off. For a practical use you can extract images and thumbnails or text from zips such as MS DocX, PptX, etc. enter image description here

Overall it is better to use a universal zip tool such as the prime suggestion 7-Zip utility, but others are popular on windows especially the Grandfather of all Windows variants WinZip (c) 1991 https://www.winzip.com/en/download/winzip/ which has specialist versions such as secured WinZip Courier and WinZip PDF!

Upvotes: 5

Geograph
Geograph

Reputation: 2604

Zip the folder from cmd by running PowerShell:

powershell "Add-Type -A System.IO.Compression.FileSystem; [IO.Compression.ZipFile]::CreateFromDirectory('folder','archive.zip')"

Unzip:

powershell "Add-Type -A System.IO.Compression.FileSystem; [IO.Compression.ZipFile]::ExtractToDirectory('archive.zip','folder')"

Upvotes: 2

Vincent Granville
Vincent Granville

Reputation: 169

Nothing listed here worked with me. This should be a very simple thing. I post my answer here, if anything because each time I search for "how to zip on the cmd window" I end up on this page, with no solution that works for me.

So here is the one that works with me: zip output_file input_files, as in the screenshot below.

enter image description here

Upvotes: -1

Katsutoshi Hayashida
Katsutoshi Hayashida

Reputation: 599

Windows 10 has tar command since 2018. It supports zip archive in default. You do not need to install any additional packages nor software.

tar.exe acvf yourfile.zip yourfolder

Compress-Archive in PowerShell does not support 2GB+ files.

Upvotes: 14

Shrikant Verma
Shrikant Verma

Reputation: 839

Yes, we can zip and unzip the file/folder using cmd. See the below command and simply you can copy past in cmd and change the directory and file name

To Zip/Compress File
powershell Compress-Archive D:\Build\FolderName D:\Build\FolderName.zip

To Unzip/Expand File
powershell expand-archive D:\Build\FileName.zip D:\deployments\FileName

Upvotes: 64

Bigxiang
Bigxiang

Reputation: 6712

If you are using Ubuntu Linux:

  1. Install zip

    sudo apt-get install zip

  2. Zip your folder:

    zip -r {filename.zip} {foldername}

If you are using Microsoft Windows:

Windows does not come with a command-line zip program, despite Windows Explorer natively supporting Zip files since the Plus! pack for Windows 98.

I recommend the open-source 7-Zip utility which includes a command-line executable and supports many different archive file types, especially its own *.7z format which offers superior compression ratios to traditional (PKZIP) *.zip files:

  1. Download 7-Zip from the 7-Zip home page

  2. Add the path to 7z.exe to your PATH environment variable. See this QA: How to set the path and environment variables in Windows

  3. Open a new command-prompt window and use this command to create a PKZIP *.zip file:

    7z a -tzip {yourfile.zip} {yourfolder}

Cross-platform Java:

If you have the Java JDK installed then you can use the jar utility to create Zip files, as *.jar files are essentially just renamed *.zip (PKZIP) files:

jar -cfM {yourfile.zip} {yourfolder}

Explanation: * -c compress * -f specify filename * -M do not include a MANIFEST file

Upvotes: 255

ELinuxbook
ELinuxbook

Reputation: 165

The zip Package should be installed in system.

To Zip a File

zip <filename.zip> <file>

Example: 

zip doc.zip doc.txt

To Unzip a File

unzip <filename.zip>

Example:

unzip mydata.zip

Upvotes: 6

MitulP91
MitulP91

Reputation: 1335

You can use the following command:

zip -r nameoffile.zip directory

Hope this helps.

Upvotes: 23

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