Compress File Mac Terminal



Compress Multiple Directories or Files at Once. RELATED: How to Manage Files from the Linux Terminal: 11 Commands You Need to Know. While tar is frequently used to compress a single directory, you could also use it to compress multiple directories, multiple individual files, or both. Just provide a list of files or directories instead of a. To compress files in a TarGZ archive, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. From there, make use of the tar command example below to learn how to compress files and folders.

Since macOS is based on Unix there are a number of ways to compress files and folders within the filing system using Unix based application code, below are a few options using the Terminal or command line interface (cli). The default command line application interface in macOS is the Terminal and is stored in /Applications/Utilities.

File and folder compression saves on file size and ensures the contents are captured and delivered or stored as one monolithic file. A compressed file which contains files and folders is generally referred to as an archive. Here are some built-in compression applications you can use including zip, tar, gz, bz2, gz and dmg.

ZIP – Cross Platform

First up is ZIP one of the most commonly used compression techniques used across all platforms

To compress

To extract

If you want to make a zip without those invisible Mac resource files such as “_MACOSX” or “._Filename” and .ds store files, use the “-X” option in the command so:

TAR.GZ – Cross Platform

Second up is TAR, an old favorite on Unix/Linux – you add the GZ for the compression – compresses tighter than zip

To compress

To extract

Split Zip File Mac Terminal

TAR.BZ2 – Cross Platform

A variation on TAR GZ but with better compression than both tar.gz and zip.

To compress

Compress File Mac Terminal

To extract

GZ

Without the tar

To extract

Zip file mac terminal with password

DMG – macOS Only

This one is macOSnative only – for a GUI interface use /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility – for command line use:

To create

To mount

To view

To Eject

Compress File Mac Terminal File

You can also use a number of different formats for creating a .dmg

  • UDZO – Compressed image (default)
  • UDRO – Read-only image
  • UDBZ – Better compressed image
  • UDRW – Read/Write image
  • UDTO – DVD disk image

Zip File Mac Terminal With Password

That’s the low down, the more common compression packages available will typically be covered in one of the above.