NAME

       7-Zip - A file archiver with highest compression ratio

SYNOPSIS

       7z [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.

       7z uses plugins to handle archives.

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/DOCS/MANUAL/switches/method.htm  for a list
              of methods)

       -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

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

       -t{Type}
              Type of archive

       -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

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

       7z 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

       7z a -sfx archive.exe dir1
              add all files from directory "dir1" to SFX  archive  archive.exe
              (Remark : SFX archive MUST end with ".exe")

MORE EXAMPLES

       You will find more examples in /usr/share/doc/p7zip/DOCS/MANUAL.

SEE ALSO

       7za(1)

MORE INFO

       Non-free Debian packages for the p7zip-rar extractor is available at
              http://adn.diwi.org/debian/p7zip-rar.

AUTHOR

       Written for Debian by Mohammed Adnene Trojette.