Linux, being an open-source operating system, offers a wide range of commands to manage your files. One such command is the zip command that allows you to compress and archive files, which is particularly useful when you want to group multiple files together for easy transportation or storage. In this blog post, you’ll learn how to zip multiple files in Linux using command-line tools.
Prerequisites
Before you get started, make sure that you have installed the zip utility in your Linux system. You can install it using the following command:
sudo apt-get install zip
If you are using a different package manager other than apt-get, just replace the apt-get part with your package manager (like yum, dnf, etc.).
Zip Multiple Files
To zip multiple files, you need to specify the name of the zip archive you want to create and then list the names of the files you want to add to the zip archive. The basic syntax for zipping multiple files is:
zip name_of_archive.zip file1 file2 file3
This command will create a zip archive named name_of_archive.zip containing the files file1, file2, and file3.
Zip a Directory
In case you want to zip a whole directory, you can use the -r option, which stands for recursive. Here is how you can do it:
zip -r name_of_archive.zip directory_name
This command will create a zip archive named name_of_archive.zip containing all the files and subdirectories of the directory called directory_name.
Conclusion
The zip command in Linux is a powerful tool for compressing and archiving files. It’s simple to use and can help you save storage space, simplify file transfer, or organize your files better. Now you know how to zip multiple files and directories, making your Linux file management skills even more robust!
