man_7za

7za(1)                        General Commands Manual                       7za(1)

NAME
       7za - A file archiver with highest compression ratio

SYNOPSIS
       7za [adeltux] [-] [SWITCH] <ARCHIVE_NAME> <ARGUMENTS>...

DESCRIPTION
       7-Zip  is  a  file archiver with the highest compression ratio. The program
       supports 7z (that implements LZMA compression algorithm),  ZIP,  CAB,  ARJ,
       GZIP,  BZIP2,  TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB formats. Compression ratio in the new
       7z format is 30-50% better than ratio in ZIP format.

       7za is a stand-alone executable. 7za handles less archive formats than  7z,
       but does not need any others.

FUNCTION LETTERS
       a      Add

       d      Delete

       e      Extract

       l      List

       t      Test

       u      Update

       x      eXtract with full paths

SWITCHES
       -ai[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}
              Include archives

       -ax[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}
              eXclude archives

       -bd    Disable percentage indicator

       -i[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}
              Include filenames

       -l     don't  store  symlinks;  store  the  files/directories they point to
              (CAUTION : the scanning stage can never  end  because  of  recursive
              symlinks like 'ln -s .. ldir')

       -m{Parameters}
              Set    Compression    Method    (see   /usr/share/doc/p7zip/DOC/MAN‐
              UAL/switches/method.htm for a list of methods)

       -mhe=on|off
              7z format only :  enables  or  disables  archive  header  encryption
              (Default : off)

       -o{Directory}
              Set Output directory

       -p{Password}
              Set Password

       -r[-|0]
              Recurse  subdirectories  (CAUTION:  this  flag  does not do what you
              think, avoid using it)

       -sfx[{name}]
              Create SFX archive

       -si    Read data from StdIn (eg: tar cf - directory  |  7za  a  -si  direc‐
              tory.tar.7z)

       -so    Write  data  to StdOut (eg: % echo foo | 7z a dummy -tgzip -si -so >
              /dev/null)

       -slt   Sets technical mode for l (list) command

       -t{Type}
              Type of archive (7z, zip, gzip, bzip2 or tar. 7z format is default)

       -v{Size}[b|k|m|g]
              Create volumes

       -u[-][p#][q#][r#][x#][y#][z#][!newArchiveName]
              Update options

       -w[path]
              Set Working 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 | 7za a -si directory.tar.7z
        - to restore your backup : 7za 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 : 7za 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
       7za 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
       7za 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
       7za a -mhe=on -pmy_password archive.7z a_directory
              add  all  files  from  directory  "a_directory"  to the archive "ar‐
              chive.7z" (with data and header archive encryption on)

SEE ALSO
       7z(1), 7zr(1), bzip2(1), gzip(1), zip(1)

HTML Documentation
       /usr/share/doc/p7zip/DOC/MANUAL/index.htm

AUTHOR
       Written for Debian by Mohammed Adnene Trojette.

Mohammed Adnene Trojette         September 1 2006                           7za(1)