{"id":778,"date":"2017-03-18T15:58:37","date_gmt":"2017-03-18T10:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/?p=778"},"modified":"2017-03-29T14:58:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T09:28:27","slug":"can-i-zip-an-entire-folder-using-gzip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/can-i-zip-an-entire-folder-using-gzip\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I zip an entire folder using gzip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Generally we can Zip\/compress the <\/b>entire folder <\/b>\/ <\/b>Whole<\/b> Linux or UNIX <\/b>Directory<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Compressing a whole linux\/UNIX directory is easy, certainly in terms of technical basis it is called as a compressed archive.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • GNU tar command is best for this work.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • It can be used on remote linux or UNIX server.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • It performs two things:<\/span>\n
      \n
    1. Create the archive<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Compress the archive<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Syntax of tar command :<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
      tar -zcvf archive-name.tar.gz directory-name<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
      Where,<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
        \n
      • -z : Compress archive using gzip program<\/span><\/li>\n
      • -c : Create archive<\/span><\/li>\n
      • -v : Verbose i.e. display progress while creating archive<\/span><\/li>\n
      • -f : Archive File name<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        Syntax of tar command :<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
         
         bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
        tar -zcvf archive-name.tar.gz directory-name<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
        Considering, we have a directory called \/home\/wikitechy\/prog<\/strong> and we would wish to compress this directory then we need to type tar command as follows:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
         
         bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
        $ tar -zcvf wiki.tar.gz \/home\/wikitechy\/prog<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
        [ad type=”banner”]<\/span><\/p>\n
          \n
        • Above command will create an archive file called wiki.tar.gz in current directory.<\/span><\/li>\n
        • To restore the archive we need to use the following command (it will extract all files in current directory):<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
           
           bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
          $ tar -zxvf wiki.tar.gz<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
          Where-x<\/strong> : Extract files<\/span><\/p>\n
            \n
          • To extract files in particular directory, for example in \/tmpwiki<\/strong> then we need to use the following command<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
             
             bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
            $ tar -zxvf wiki.tar.gz -C \/tmpwiki$ cd \/tmpwiki$ ls -<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
            Trying to zip a folder in unix can be done using the gzip command<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
              \n
            • We can use gzip -r myfolder which will gzip files recursively.<\/span><\/li>\n
            • The same way we can unzip files using gunzip -r myfolder which will unzip files recursively.<\/span><\/li>\n
            • At some cases we can Use tar; it supports options for compression.<\/span><\/li>\n
            • gzip command is designed as a complement to tar, not as a replacement.<\/span><\/li>\n
            • Zipping an entire folder using gzip is not possible , because Unlike zip, gzip functions as a compression algorithm only.<\/span><\/li>\n
            • Unix uses a program named tar to archive data, which can then be compressed with a compression program like gzip, bzip2, 7zip, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n
            • In order to “zip” a directory, the correct command would be mentioned bellow :<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
               
               bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
              tar -zcvf archive.tar.gz directory\/ <\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                \n
              • This will tell tar to c (create) an archive from the files in directory (tar is recursive by default), compress it using the z (gzip) algorithm, store the output as a f (file) named archive.tar.gz, and v (verbosely) list (on \/dev\/stderr so it doesn’t affect piped commands) all the files it adds to the archive<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                  \n
                • The tar<\/b> command offers gzip<\/b> support (via the -z<\/b> flag).<\/span><\/li>\n
                • The gzip<\/b> command\/lib is completely separate. The command above is effectively the same as<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                   
                   bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                  tar -cv directory | gzip > archive.tar.gz<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                    \n
                  • To decompress and unpack the archive into the current directory we would use<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                     
                     bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                    tar -zxvf archive.tar.gz<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                      \n
                    • That command is effectively the same as<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                       
                       bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                      gunzip < archive.tar.gz | tar -xv<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                      Using the -r switch , the gzip command will not recursively compress a directory into a single zip file, rather it will go into that directory structure and zip each file that it finds into a separate file.<\/span><\/p>\n
                      Example:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                      Before running the gzip command<\/span><\/p>\n
                       
                       bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                      $ tree dir1\/dir1\/|-- dir11|   |-- file11|   |-- file12|   `-- file13|-- file1|-- file2`-- file3<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                      Example:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                      Now on executing the gzip command<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                       
                       bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                      $ gzip -r dir1after<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                      After running the gzip command<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                       
                       bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                      $ tree dir1\/dir1\/|-- dir11|   |-- file11.gz|   |-- file12.gz|   `-- file13.gz|-- file1.gz|-- file2.gz`-- file3.gz<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                      [ad type=”banner”]<\/span><\/p>\n
                        \n
                      • To zip up the directory structure , use the tar command, and then compress the resulting .tar<\/strong> file<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                         
                         bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                        $ tar zcvf dir1.tar.gz dir1\/<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                        Example:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                         
                         bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                        $ tar zcvf dir1.tar.gz dir1\/dir1\/dir1\/file1dir1\/file2dir1\/dir11\/dir1\/dir11\/file11.gzdir1\/dir11\/file12.gzdir1\/dir11\/file13.gzdir1\/file3<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                        Which results in the following single file :<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                         
                         bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                        $ ls -l | grep tar-rw-rw-r-- 1 saml saml  271 Nov  1 08:07 dir1.tar.gz<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                        Finally we can confirm its contents:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                         
                         bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                        $ tar ztvf dir1.tar.gz drwxrwxr-x saml\/saml         0 2017-10-01 08:05 dir1\/-rw-rw-r-- saml\/saml         0 2017-10-01 07:45 dir1\/file1-rw-rw-r-- saml\/saml         0 2017-10-01 07:45 dir1\/file2drwxrwxr-x saml\/saml         0 2017-10-01 08:04 dir1\/dir11\/-rw-rw-r-- saml\/saml        27 2017-10-01 07:45 dir1\/dir11\/file11.gz-rw-rw-r-- saml\/saml        27 2017-10-01 07:45 dir1\/dir11\/file12.gz-rw-rw-r-- saml\/saml        27 2017-10-01 07:45 dir1\/dir11\/file13.gz-rw-rw-r-- saml\/saml         0 2017-10-01 07:45 dir1\/file3<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                        How to use:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
                         
                         bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                        cd \/home\/; gzipdir MyDirectory    <\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                          \n
                        • It will create \/home\/MyDirectory.tgz and remove MyDirectory<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                           
                           bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                          gunzipdir \/home\/MyDirectory.tgz<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                            \n
                          • It will create \/home\/MyDirectory and remove \/home\/MyDirectory.tgz<\/span><\/li>\n
                          • In Linux, using gzip its unable to compress a folder, since its being used to compress a single file only.<\/span><\/li>\n
                          • To compress a folder, we should use tar + gzip, which is tar -z<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                            Note:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
                             
                             bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                            $ tar --help                 -z, -j, -J, --lzma  Compress archive with gzip\/bzip2\/xz\/lzma<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                            Here is an example:<\/span><\/p>\n
                             
                             bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                            tar -zcvf outputFileName folderToCompress<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                            How to gzip a folder in Linux:<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
                            1<\/b>. Tar + Gzip a folder:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                            Lets see the example to gzip a folder named \u201cwikitechy<\/b>\u201d, and also all the files within that folder, into a single compressed file wikitechy.tar.gz<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                             
                             bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                            $ tar -zcvf wikitechy.tar.gz wikitechy\/a wikitechya wikitechy\/.DS_Storea wikitechy\/CHANGELOGa wikitechy\/extension-example.xmla wikitechy\/extension.xsda wikitechy\/LICENSEa wikitechy\/wikitechy-api-sources.jara wikitechy\/wikitechy-api.jara wikitechy\/wikitechy.jara wikitechy\/wikitechy.ymla wikitechy\/nrcertsa wikitechy\/README.txt$ ls -lsa     0 drwxr-xr-x  13 mkyong  staff        442 Mar 24 21:40 wikitechy 11072 -rw-r--r--   1 mkyong  staff    5667938 Sep 23 15:44 wikitechy.tar.gz<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n
                            [ad type=”banner”]<\/span><\/p>\n
                            2.List the contents of wikitechy.tar.gz:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
                             
                             bash code<\/span> <\/div> 
                            $ tar -tf wikitechy.tar.gzwikitechy\/wikitechy\/._.DS_Storewikitechy\/.DS_Storewikitechy\/._CHANGELOGwikitechy\/CHANGELOGwikitechy\/._extension-example.xmlwikitechy\/extension-example.xmlwikitechy\/._extension.xsdwikitechy\/extension.xsdwikitechy\/._LICENSEwikitechy\/LICENSEwikitechy\/._wikitechy-api-sources.jarwikitechy\/wikitechy-api-sources.jarwikitechy\/._wikitechy-api.jarwikitechy\/wikitechy-api.jarwikitechy\/._wikitechy.jarwikitechy\/wikitechy.jarwikitechy\/._wikitechy.ymlwikitechy\/wikitechy.ymlwikitechy\/._nrcertswikitechy\/nrcertswikitechy\/._README.txtwikitechy\/README.txt<\/code><\/pre> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
                            Generally we can Zip\/compress the entire folder \/ Whole Linux or UNIX Directory Compressing a whole linux\/UNIX directory is easy, certainly in terms of technical basis it is called as a compressed archive. GNU tar command is best for this work. It can be used on remote linux or UNIX server. It performs two things: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1699,1331],"tags":[1457,1438,1437,1439,1380,1446,1440,1456,1453,1452,1450,1460,1449,1451,1455,1454,1443,1441,1442,1444,1447,1445,1459,1448,1458],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linux","category-unix","tag-gz-file-extract","tag-gzip-a-directory-in-linux","tag-gzip-all-files-in-a-directory","tag-gzip-all-files-in-a-directory-recursively","tag-gzip-command-in-linux","tag-gzip-compression","tag-gzip-folder-and-subfolders","tag-how-to-compress-zip-files","tag-how-to-extract-tar-file","tag-how-to-extract-zip-file-in-linux","tag-how-to-tar-a-directory-in-linux","tag-how-to-untar-a-tar-file-in-linux","tag-how-to-unzip-gz-file-in-linux","tag-how-to-unzip-gz-file-in-unix","tag-how-to-zip-a-directory-in-linux","tag-how-to-zip-a-file-in-unix","tag-how-to-zip-a-folder-in-ubuntu","tag-linux-unzip-folder","tag-linux-zip-folder-and-subfolders","tag-tar-command","tag-tar-command-in-linux","tag-tar-file","tag-what-is-tar-file-how-to-open-tar-file","tag-zip-command-in-linux","tag-zip-file-in-linux"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}