How to zip/unzip files in Powershell?

Question

Is there a one-liner that will zip/unzip files (*.zip) in PowerShell?

Solution 1

DotNetZip will allow you to do this from PowerShell. It is not a one-liner, but the library will allow you to write the PowerShell script you need.

You can also use the COM interface, see Compress Files with Windows PowerShell then package a Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget.

Googling "zip powershell" or "unzip powershell" might also turn up useful results.

Solution 2

This is how you can do it purely from Powershell without any external tools. This unzips a file called test.zip onto the current working directory:

$shell_app=new-object -com shell.application
$filename = "test.zip"
$zip_file = $shell_app.namespace((Get-Location).Path + "\$filename")
$destination = $shell_app.namespace((Get-Location).Path)
$destination.Copyhere($zip_file.items())

Solution 3

Now in .NET Framework 4.5, there is a ZipFile class that you can use like this:

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.IO.Compression.FileSystem')
[System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::ExtractToDirectory($sourceFile, $targetFolder)

Solution 4

I know this is a very old question, but I just saw it linked on Twitter on figured I'd post a current answer.

PowerShell 5, currently available on Windows 10 or via the Windows Management Framework 5 Production Preview, comes with two built-in cmdlets for 'zipping' and 'unzipping':

• Compress-Archive
• Expand-Archive

Solution 5

You may wish to check out The PowerShell Community Extensions (PSCX) which has cmdlets specifically for this.

View more solutions

Comments

[Adam M-W]

related: Unzip with PS in Server Core

[Peter]

use $destination.Copyhere($zip_file.items(), 0x10) for overwriting existing files. 0x4 hides the dialog box, and 0x14 combines these and overwrites and hides the dialog.

[Steve]

I've come across this because I actually want to automate the PSCX installation if I can for some coworkers. Trying it now to see what sort of issues I run into

[Jan Vojtěch Vaníček]

Ok but how do you unzip?

[Jonathan Allen]

The line $destination.Copyhere($zip_file.items()) does the actual unziping.

[Adam M-W]

+1 Linked article has useful Tasks unlike the most upvoted answer

[GalacticCowboy]

It definitely worked - I used it to extract over 400 zip files. I'll check to make sure I don't have 4.5 on here, but it doesn't show up under Microsoft.NET.

[James Dunne]

This would be great if there were a simple method to ExtractToDirectory and an option to overwrite all existing files.

[tugberk]

This should be the accepted answer.

[DalSoft]

This works with .NET 4.5. You do however need Powershell V3 too.

[Adam M-W]

Article with example based on related question

[Mike]

@JamesDunne - If you don't have other files you need to preserve, could use 'Remove-Item -Recurse $TargetFolder'. Otherwise, what you want can be done, but it would be non-trivial. You would need to open the zip for read, and then walk the zip, deleting any previous target object and unpacking the new one. Lucky for me, the easy solution works. ;)

[m3nda]

Agree about accepted. Is not a monstruous code like other PowerShell i see. 5 Lines is just great and is fully related to Powershell not to 3rd party software.

[James Woolfenden]

This fails for me when the zip file contains just a folder (items is empty)

[Kiquenet]

@Nico answer working for unzip in a destination

[craibuc]

Does Copyhere support passwords?

[machine yearning]

-1 for suggesting a Google search. This is the top StackExchange result in a Google search for "unzip powershell"

[ujeenator]

Great! This works on PowerShell v2.0 and Windows 7

[Jerome2606]

How to zip using your way ?

[jpmc26]

It is a good thing to provide new information to old questions. ;) +1

[jpmc26]

Be warned that relative file locations will use the .NET current directory, not the PowerShell one. See here. It's probably better just to (Resolve-Path $someDir).Path the arguments.

[johny why]

yes, how to zip with CopyHere?

[johny why]

how to zip with this method (> is command-prompt, src is a folder): >$shellapp=new-object -com shell.application >$zippath="test.zip" >$zipobj=$shellapp.namespace((Get-Location).Path + "\$zippath") >$srcpath="src" >$srcobj=$shellapp.namespace((Get-Location).Path + "\$srcpath") >$zipobj.Copyhere($srcobj.items())

[Shoeless]

Oh, I know this is 6 years old, but after trying to find a low-cost commercial (or open source) solution to extract files from a PKZIP SFX, and failing miserably, this solution right here made my day!