How to Install 7-zip on Ubuntu 20.04 | Debian

In this tutorial, we will be showing you how to install 7-zip on Ubuntu 20.04 and Debian-based Linux systems. To perform the actions in this guide you will need to make sure you are logged in as a user with sudo privileges.

7-Zip is a free, cross-platform, and open-source software used for packing and unpacking files and folders into a variety of formats. These include 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP, and WIM. The following file formats are only supported for unpacking; AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, IHEX, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, QCOW2, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, UEFI, VDI, VHD, VHDX, VMDK, WIM, XAR, and Z.

7-Zip comes with a high compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression algorithms.

Install 7-zip on Ubuntu 20.04 in Two Steps

Step 1: Update your Linux system to ensure you have the latest packages.

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 2. Install 7-zip archiver on the Ubuntu system.

$ sudo apt install p7zip-full p7zip-rar

Use this command to confirm the successful installation, to see the list of commands and options.

$ 7z

How to Use 7-zip on Ubuntu and Debian Based Systems

The syntax for running commands in 7-zip is as follows:

7z <command>

This is the list of command options available with 7-zip.

b : Benchmark
d : Delete files from archive
e : Extract files from archive (without using directory names)
h : Calculate hash values for files
i : Show information about supported formats
l : List contents of archive
rn : Rename files in archive
t : Test integrity of archive
u : Update files to archive
x : eXtract files with full paths

Examples of 7-zip Commands syntax are shown below:

Create and add files to an archive:

$ 7z a [archive name] [file/directory]

Unpack a 7zip file:

$ 7z e [archive name]

View the contents of an archive:

$ 7z l [archive name]

Conclusion

We have shown you how to install 7-zip on Ubuntu 20.04 and now you should be able to compress and decompress files using the 7-zip utility. More details about the utility can be found here.

Found this article interesting? Follow Brightwhiz on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to read and watch more content we post.