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bzip2 and bunzip2 are file compression and decompression utilities. The bzip2 and bunzip2 utilities are newer than gzip and gunzip and are not as common yet, but they are rapidly gaining popularity. The bzip2 utility is capable of greater compression ratios than gzip. Therefore, a bzip2 file can be 10-20% smaller than a gzip version of the same file. Usually, files that have been compressed by bzip2 will have a .bz2 extension.

Installing bzip2 in debian

#apt-get install bzip2

Uncompressing a bzip2 File Using bunzip2

To uncompress a bzip2 file, execute the following command:

#bunzip2 filename.txt.bz2 (where filename.txt.bz2 is the name of the file you wish to uncompress)

The result of this operation is a file called filename.txt. By default, bunzip2 will delete the filename.txt.bz2 file.

Compressing a File Using bzip2

To compress a file using bzip2, execute the following command:

#bzip2 filename.txt (where filename.txt is the name of the file you wish to compress)

The result of this operation is a file called filename.txt.bz2. By default, bzip2 will delete the filename.txt file.

Available Options

#bzip2 --help

bzip2, a block-sorting file compressor. Version 1.0.2, 30-Dec-2001.

usage: bzip2 [flags and input files in any order]

-h –help print this message
-d –decompress force decompression
-z –compress force compression
-k –keep keep (don’t delete) input files
-f –force overwrite existing output files
-t –test test compressed file integrity
-c –stdout output to standard out
-q –quiet suppress noncritical error messages
-v –verbose be verbose (a 2nd -v gives more)
-L –license display software version & license
-V –version display software version & license
-s –small use less memory (at most 2500k)
-1 .. -9 set block size to 100k .. 900k
–fast alias for -1
–best alias for -9

If invoked as `bzip2′, default action is to compress.
as `bunzip2′, default action is to decompress.
as `bzcat’, default action is to decompress to stdout.

If no file names are given, bzip2 compresses or decompresses
from standard input to standard output. You can combine
short flags, so `-v -4′ means the same as -v4 or -4v, &c.

If you want more option you need to check bzip2 man page using the following command

#man bzip2

Create and Extract .gz Files
gzip and gunzip are GNU file compression and decompression utilities. Usually, files that have been compressed by gzip will have a .gz extension. However, sometimes you may see a file that has a .tgz extension. This is a TAR file that has been compressed by gzip. The .tgz extension is a shorthand version for the .tar.gz extension. This type of file must be uncompressed with gunzip before it can be untarred. However, there is a way to use the tar command to uncompress the file and untar it at the same time. For more information, see the tar: Tape Archive Files guide.

Installing gzip in Debian

#apt-get install gzip

Uncompressing a gzip File Using gunzip

To uncompress a gzip file, execute the following command:

#gunzip filename.txt.gz (where filename.txt.gz is the name of the file you wish to uncompress)

The result of this operation is a file called filename.txt. By default, gunzip will delete the filename.txt.gz file.

Compressing a File Using gzip

To compress a file using gzip, execute the following command:

#gzip filename.txt (where filename.txt is the name of the file you wish to compress)

The result of this operation is a file called filename.txt.gz. By default, gzip will delete the filename.txt file.

Available Options

#gzip -h
gzip 1.3.5
(2002-09-30)
usage: gzip [-cdfhlLnNrtvV19] [-S suffix] [file ...]
-c –stdout write on standard output, keep original files unchanged
-d –decompress decompress
-f –force force overwrite of output file and compress links
-h –help give this help
-l –list list compressed file contents
-L –license display software license
-n –no-name do not save or restore the original name and time stamp
-N –name save or restore the original name and time stamp
-q –quiet suppress all warnings
-r –recursive operate recursively on directories
-S .suf –suffix .suf use suffix .suf on compressed files
-t –test test compressed file integrity
-v –verbose verbose mode
-V –version display version number
-1 –fast compress faster
-9 –best compress better
–rsyncable Make rsync-friendly archive
file… files to (de)compress. If none given, use standard input.

If you want more option you need to check gzip man page using the following command

#man gzip

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