The zip command in Linux is used to create and manage zip archives. A zip archive is a compressed file that can contain multiple files. The zip command is a part of the zip suite of tools.
Here are some examples of how to use the zip command:
To create a zip archive called my_archive.zip that contains the files file1.txt and file2.txt: zip my_archive.zip file1.txt file2.txt
To recursively compress all files in the directory /home/user/data: zip -r data.zip /home/user/data
To show help for the zip command: zip --help
help
Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP - Type 'zip "-L"' for software license.
Zip 3.0 (July 5th 2008). Usage:
zip [-options] [-b path] [-t mmddyyyy] [-n suffixes] [zipfile list] [-xi list]
The default action is to add or replace zipfile entries from list, which
can include the special name - to compress standard input.
If zipfile and list are omitted, zip compresses stdin to stdout.
-f freshen: only changed files -u update: only changed or new files
-d delete entries in zipfile -m move into zipfile (delete OS files)
-r recurse into directories -j junk (don't record) directory names
-0 store only -l convert LF to CR LF (-ll CR LF to LF)
-1 compress faster -9 compress better
-q quiet operation -v verbose operation/print version info
-c add one-line comments -z add zipfile comment
-@ read names from stdin -o make zipfile as old as latest entry
-x exclude the following names -i include only the following names
-F fix zipfile (-FF try harder) -D do not add directory entries
-A adjust self-extracting exe -J junk zipfile prefix (unzipsfx)
-T test zipfile integrity -X eXclude eXtra file attributes
-y store symbolic links as the link instead of the referenced file
-e encrypt -n don't compress these suffixes
-h2 show more help
breakdown
-r, --recurse: This option recursively compresses all files in the specified directory.
-f, --force: This option overwrites the existing file.
-h, --help: This option shows this help message.
-V, --version: This option prints version information.