7z(1) General Commands Manual 7z(1) NAME 7z - A file archiver with high compression ratio format SYNOPSIS 7z [... ] [... ] [<@listfiles>... ] DESCRIPTION 7-Zip is a file archiver supporting 7z (that implements LZMA compression algorithm featuring very high compression ratio), LZMA2, XZ, ZIP, Zip64, CAB, RAR (if the non-free p7zip-rar package is installed), ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM, ISO, most filesystem images and DEB formats. Compression ratio in the new 7z format is 30-50% better than ratio in ZIP format. 7z uses plugins to handle archives, so it might be slightly slower than 7za(1) but can handle more archive formats. COMMANDS a Add files to archive b Benchmark d Delete files from archive e Extract files from archive (without using directory names) h Calculate hash values for files i Show information about supported formats l List contents of archive rn Rename files in archive t Test integrity of archive u Update files to archive x eXtract files with full paths SWITCHES -- Stop switches parsing -ai[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard} Include archives -ax[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard} Exclude archives -ao{a|s|t|u} Set Overwrite mode -an Disable archive_name field -bb[0-3] Set output log level -bd Disable progress indicator -bs{o|e|p}{0|1|2} Set output stream for output/error/progress line -bt Show execution time statistics -i[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard} Include filenames -m{Parameters} Set Compression Method (see /usr/share/doc/p7zip/DOC/MANUAL/cmdline/switches/method.htm from the p7zip-full package for a list of methods) -o{Directory} Set Output directory -p{Password} Set Password (NOTE: this flag does not work with 7zr) -r[-|0] Recurse subdirectories (CAUTION: this flag does not do what you think, avoid using it) -sa{a|e|s} Set archive name mode -scc{UTF-8|WIN|DOS} Set charset for for console input/output -scs{UTF-8|UTF-16LE|UTF-16BE|WIN|DOS|{id}} Set charset for list files -scrc[CRC32|CRC64|SHA1|SHA256|*] Set hash function for x, e, h commands -sdel Delete files after compression -seml[.] Send archive by email -sfx[{name}] Create SFX archive -si[{name}] Read data from stdin (e.g. tar cf - directory | 7z a -si directory.tar.7z) -slp Set Large Pages mode -slt Show technical information for l (List) command -snh Store hard links as links -snl Store symbolic links as links -sni Store NT security information -sns[-] Store NTFS alternate streams -sfx[{name}] Create SFX archive -so Write data to stdout (e.g. 7z x -so directory.tar.7z | tar xf -) -spd Disable wildcard matching for file names -spe Eliminate duplication of root folder for extract command -spf Use fully qualified file paths -ssc[-] Set sensitive case mode -ssw Compress shared files -stl Set archive timestamp from the most recently modified file -stm{HexMask} Set CPU thread affinity mask (hexadecimal number) -stx{Type} Exclude archive type -t{Type} Set type of archive -u[-][p#][q#][r#][x#][y#][z#][!newArchiveName] Update options -v{Size}[b|k|m|g] Create volumes -w[path] Set working directory. Empty path means a temporary directory -x[r[-|0]]]{@listfile|!wildcard} Exclude filenames -y Assume Yes on all queries DIAGNOSTICS 7-Zip returns the following exit codes: 0 Normal (no errors or warnings detected) 1 Warning (Non fatal error(s)). For example, some files cannot be read during compressing, so they were not compressed 2 Fatal error 7 Bad command line parameters 8 Not enough memory for operation 255 User stopped the process with control-C (or similar) Backup and limitations DO NOT USE the 7-zip format for backup purpose on Linux/Unix because : - 7-zip does not store the owner/group of the file. On Linux/Unix, in order to backup directories you must use tar : - to backup a directory : tar cf - directory | 7z a -si directory.tar.7z - to restore your backup : 7z x -so directory.tar.7z | tar xf - If you want to send files and directories (not the owner of file) to others Unix/MacOS/Windows users, you can use the 7-zip format. example : 7z a directory.7z directory Do not use "-r" because this flag does not do what you think. Do not use directory/* because of ".*" files (example : "directory/*" does not match "directory/.profile") EXAMPLE 1 7z a -t7z -m0=lzma -mx=9 -mfb=64 -md=32m -ms=on archive.7z dir1 adds all files from directory "dir1" to archive archive.7z using "ultra settings" -t7z 7z archive -m0=lzma lzma method -mx=9 level of compression = 9 (Ultra) -mfb=64 number of fast bytes for LZMA = 64 -md=32m dictionary size = 32 megabytes -ms=on solid archive = on EXAMPLE 2 7z a -sfx archive.exe dir1 add all files from directory "dir1" to SFX archive archive.exe (Remark : SFX archive MUST end with ".exe") EXAMPLE 3 7z a -mhe=on -pmy_password archive.7z a_directory add all files from directory "a_directory" to the archive "archive.7z" (with data and header archive encryption on) SEE ALSO 7zr(1), 7za(1), p7zip(1), bzip2(1), gzip(1), zip(1), HTML Documentation /usr/share/doc/p7zip-full/DOC/MANUAL/start.htm AUTHOR Written for Debian by Mohammed Adnene Trojette. Updated by Robert Luberda. 7-Zip March 6th, 2016 7z(1)