File Compression:

File compression is a process of reducing the size of a file. File compression is always performed using a lossless compression algorithm. This means no information is lost during the compression process. A compress archive can be fully restored to the original version when it is decompressed.

• Compression:

1. gzip:

To compress a file using gzip, gzip [file-name] is used.

1. bzip2:

To compress a file using bzip2, bzip2 [file-name] is used.

• Decopression:

1. gunzip:

   To decompress a gzip file, gunzip is used. This command is written as

   gunzip [file-name].gz .

   

2. bunzip2:

To decompress a bzip2 file, bunzip2 is used. This command is written as

bunzip2 [file-name].bz2 .

File Archiving:

Archiving is the process of gathering up many files and bundling them together into a single large file. There are two ways to archive the files.

• Archiving:

  1. tar:

To create an archive using tar, tar -cf [archive-name.tar] [file/directory1] [file/directory2] is used.

1. zip:

To create an archive using zip, zip -r [archive-name.tar] [file/directory1] [file/directory2] is used.

• Unarchiving:

1. tar:

To unarchive using tar, tar -xf [name] is used.

1. zip:

   To unarchive using zip, unzip [name] is used.