Compress files with bzip2, gzip, gunzip and tar — Cheat Sheet Linux

bzip2

bzip2 <FILENAME> is used to compress files and directories. It has better performance than gzip. Be careful, it replaces the original files with the compressed files.

Example:

bzip2 /home/user/myfile.txt

gzip

gzip <FILENAME> and gzip2 <FILENAME> are used to compress files and directories. The original files are replaced by the new compressed version.

The arguments are:

• -r (or --recursive): compresses files and directories recursively.

Example:

Compress the file myfile.txt and replace it with myfile.txt.gz:

gzip myfile.txt 

gunzip

gunzip <FILENAME> extracts the contents of a file compressed with gzip.

tar

tar <OPTIONS> <FILES> backs up and compresses files and directories using gzip or bzip. tar was originally used for tape backups. Multiple files can be specified by separating them with a space.

The arguments are :

• -c (or --create): creates a new archive,
• -t (or --list) : displays the content of the archive,
• -x (or --extract) : extracts the content of the archive,
• -f [<HOSTNAME>:]<FILENAME> (or --file) : specifies the name of…