gzip flags & options

Basic compression

Compress a file in place (replaces original with .gz).

gzip file.txt

Decompress a .gz file.

gzip -d file.txt.gz

Keep the original file after compressing or decompressing.

gzip -k file.txt

gzip -dk file.txt.gz

Compress all files in a directory recursively.

gzip -r logs/

Show compression ratio and file details.

gzip -v largefile.bin

List compression info for a .gz file without decompressing.

gzip -l file.txt.gz

Set compression level. -1 is fastest, -9 is best compression.

gzip -9 file.txt

gzip -1 file.txt

Write to stdout instead of replacing the file. Useful for piping.

gzip -c file.txt > file.txt.gz

gzip -dc file.txt.gz | grep "pattern"

Test integrity of a compressed file.

gzip -t file.txt.gz