Using zip, unzip, and tar for Compression and Archiving on Linux

1. zip compression tool

Install the zip package if it is missing: yum install -y zip . Compress a single file with zip 1.txt.zip 1.txt (adds 1.txt, deflated 74%). Compress a directory recursively with zip -r test.zip test . List archive contents using unzip -l test.zip . The original files remain after compression.

2. unzip extraction

Install unzip if needed: yum install -y unzip . Extract an archive with unzip 1.txt.zip . To specify an extraction directory, use unzip test.zip -d /tmp/test . Overwrite prompts can be answered with A for all or N for none.

3. tar packaging

The tar command bundles files and directories into a single archive. Basic syntax: tar -cvf archive.tar files... to create, tar -xvf archive.tar to extract, and tar -tvf archive.tar to list contents. Options include -z for gzip, -j for bzip2, -J for xz compression, -v for verbose, and --exclude to omit specific files.

Examples:

Create a plain tar: tar -cvf test.tar test 1.txt 2.txt

Create a tar.gz (gzip) archive: tar -zcvf test.tar.gz test 1.txt 2.txt

Create a tar.bz2 (bzip2) archive: tar -jcvf test.tar.bz2 test 1.txt 2.txt

Create a tar.xz (xz) archive: tar -Jcvf test.tar.xz test 1.txt 2.txt

Extract a gzip-compressed archive: tar -zxvf test.tar.gz

Extract a bzip2-compressed archive: tar -jxvf test.tar.bz2

List contents of any archive: tar -tf test.tar.gz

Exclude files while creating: tar -cvf test.tar --exclude 3.txt test 1.txt 2.txt

All commands preserve the original files; the archives are created in the same directory unless a different path is specified.