How to Unzip Files in Linux

Linux includes various commands for decompression. Neither the zip nor the unzip utilities are included in the default install of Linux. The zip and unzip programs work almost exactly like their cousins PKZIP and PKUNZIP in the DOS environment. A ZIP file contains one or more files that have been compressed to reduce file size. There are numerous Zip tools available, and numerous ZIP libraries for various programming environments.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Type in at the command prompt "# apt-get install unzip" (without the quotes). This will install the unzip application on your Linux machine. You must be a root user to use this command. If you are using Red Hat Linux then you can use the command "# yum install unzip" (without the quotes) to install the unzip program.

2. Type "$ unzip foldername.zip" (without the quotes), where "foldername" is the name of the folder you are trying to unzip. This command will unzip all of the files that are stored in the "foldername" archive.

3. Type "$ unzip --tq foldername.zip" (without the quotes), where "foldername" is the name of the folder you are trying to unzip. This command will test the "foldername" archive to verify it is okay.

4. Type "$ unzip foldername.zip filename.doc" (without the quotes), where "filename" is the name of the folder, and "filename" is the name of a specific file in "foldername" that you want to unzip. This command will unzip a single file from the "filename" archive.

5. Type "$ unzip foldername.zip --d /temp" (without the quotes), where "foldername" is the name of the folder you are trying to unzip. This command will unzip all of the files in the "foldername" archive into the temp directory.