How to Zip and Unzip via SSH: The Ultimate Guide

In this article, we are going to show you how to zip and unzip via SSH. You will learn about the compression and extraction methods on your server for better archive management.

Zip and Unzip via SSH: Everything You Need to Know

Compressing and extracting files is not only common on desktop computers. You may need to do the same things on your VPS. Zipping and unzipping files make it easy for you to download and move data around.

To perform these actions, you need to run a specific command through the SSH (Secure Shell) protocol on your server.

This process requires you to use an SSH client — like PuTTY (Windows) or terminal shell (macOS & Linux) — to access your server. If you’re a VPS owner at Hostinger, you can get the login credential in the Servers tab of the hPanel. You don’t know how to establish the connection? Our SSH tutorial can help you.

Without further delay, let’s learn how to zip and unzip via SSH.

How to Compress and Extract Different Archive Formats

We will cover the compression and extraction method of popular archive formats, including .tar.gz, .tar, .zip, and .rar.

.tar.gz Files

You can use the command below to compress several files into a .tar.gz archive:
```
tar -czvf archive-name.tar.gz your-file.text your-file.php your-file.html
```
If you intend to compress an entire directory, use the following method.

Don’t forget to replace “archive-name” and “your-file” with your actual file names and directories. Also, you are not limited to file formats that are used in this example.
```
tar -czvf archive-name.tar.gz /Directory-Name
```
To extract a .tar.gz archive, enter:
```
tar -zxvf archive-name.tar.gz
```

.tar Files

The syntax for creating .tar archives is as follows:
```
tar -zcf archive-name.tar your-file.php your-file.php your-file.html
```
Enter the following line to move the whole directory to a .tar file:
```
tar -zcf archive-name.tar.gz /directory-name
```
You can extract the previous archive by typing this command:
```
tar -xvf archive-name.tar
```

.zip Files

For .zip files, we’ll be using the zip command instead of tar. Here’s how you create an archive in this format:
```
zip archive-name.zip your-file.php your-file.php your-file.php
```
In order to compress a directory, use this syntax:
```
zip archive-name.zip /directory-name
```
This command is used for .zip file decompression:
```
unzip archive-name.zip
```

.rar Files

The command for RAR compression is rar, as shown below:
```
rar a archive-name.rar your-file.txt your-file.php your-file.html
```
To put an entire folder into one .rar archive, you should use this syntax.
```
rar a archive-name.rar /directory-name
```
This is how you extract the .rar archive.
```
unrar x archive-name.rar
```

After you decompress any archive format, the script will output a list of all the extracted files, like this:

The result after you unzip via SSH

Conclusion

Congratulations! Now you know how to zip and unzip through SSH for easier file management.

There are many archive formats available, and you can choose the ones that suit you best. Keep in mind that .tar and .tar.gz formats use a similar command (tar) while .zip and .rar archives have their own (zip and rar respectively).

Therefore, make sure that you enter the appropriate line for the desired file format.

Let us know in the comments if you have any questions!

The Author

Domantas G. / @domantas Follow @domantasg1

Domantas leads the content and SEO teams forward with fresh ideas and out of the box approaches. Armed with extensive SEO and marketing knowledge, he aims to spread the word of Hostinger to every corner of the world. During his free time, Domantas likes to hone his web development skills and travel to exotic places.