Bash unzip - Extract compressed files from a ZIP archive

Basic Usage

To extract files from a ZIP archive, use unzip archive.zip:

unzip archive.zip
Archive: archive.zip
inflating: file1
inflating: file2

Unzip Options Overview

Here are some common options you can use with the unzip command:

• -l - List archive files
• -t - Test compressed archive files
• -d - Extract files into a different directory
• -o - Overwrite existing files without prompting
• -x - Exclude specific files from being extracted

Option: -l (List)

The -l option lists all the files in the ZIP archive without extracting them.

unzip -l archive.zip
Length   Date   Time   Name
------   ----   ----   ----
1234  2025-04-10 12:00 file1
5678  2025-04-10 12:00 file2
------
2 files

Option: -t (Test)

The -t option tests the integrity of the files in the ZIP archive.

unzip -t archive.zip
Archive: archive.zip
testing: file1 OK
testing: file2 OK
No errors detected in compressed data of archive.zip

Option: -d (Extract to Directory)

The -d option extracts files to a specified directory.

unzip -d /path/to/extract/ archive.zip
Archive: archive.zip
  inflating: /path/to/extract/file1
  inflating: /path/to/extract/file2

Option: -o (Overwrite)

The -o option overwrites existing files without prompting.

unzip -o archive.zip
Archive: archive.zip
replacing: file1
replacing: file2

Option: -x (Exclude)

The -x option excludes specific files from being extracted.

unzip archive.zip -x file1
Archive: archive.zip
  inflating: file2