Ubzip many files

[Spacecadet]

Is there a way to unzip many files or does one need to go one by one? I've downloaded a ton of stuff and it is all zipped. It's time consuming.

[vanadium]

Yes there is. Select several files then select "Extract here". Else, unzip from the command line in a for loop.

[Spacecadet]

Is there a way to extract them each into their own folder so the files do not get mixed up together?

[djph]

Depends on how the creator of the archive did things.

• If the archives are a zipped directory, unzip *zip will unzip everything into their own directories
• If the archives are just jumbled files, you'll have to do more work. Something like the below.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

#unzip.sh -- quick and dirty script to unzip archives into their own directories.  
#Spaces in filenames / starting directory may cause fun(tm). Best to avoid them.

# Usage: die message ...
die() {
  printf '%s\n' "$*" >&2
  exit 1
}

read -p "Please enter starting directory: " stdir

if [[ ! -d $stdir ]] ; then
  printf "${stdir} is not a valid directory."
  exit 1
fi

cd $stdir || die

for f in *zip; do
  g="${f%.zip}"
  mkdir ./"$g"
  cd ./"$g" || die
  unzip ../"$f"
  cd .. || die
done

printf "processing complete."

[Spacecadet]

I'm very inexperienced with the terminal. I know how to change directory. Do I just copy and paste this?

[absque fenestris]

I'm very inexperienced with the terminal. I know how to change directory. Do I just copy and paste this?

Hi Spacecadet
do you have the possibility to use a Mint or otherwise a Linux in the VirtualBox?
A virtual Linux experimental system can really do a lot to reduce inhibitions and fears of the terminal. If something goes completely wrong, just delete the virtual system. Your data and your settings on your main installation are not at risk at any time.

[Spacecadet]

Yes, I put Virtual Box on this computer but I don't know how to use it. If I can get it set up you recommend playing around with the terminal in it? Before I let myself loose on the real one?

[absque fenestris]

In principle, virtual systems are ideal playgrounds for such exercises. You can really try out all terminal commands, but also scripts like the one above at your leisure. Even several times, until it works and you feel confident.
The prerequisite, however, is 8 GB RAM. Whether it works e.g. with 4 GB RAM is questionable, 10 years ago this was no problem, meanwhile the memory requirement has increased strongly.

[djph]

I'm very inexperienced with the terminal. I know how to change directory. Do I just copy and paste this?

yeah, that'd get copy/pasted into a file (e.g. "unzip.sh") and then you would run it with bash unzip.sh.

Here's a few random zipped files I found on my system, and threw into ~/ziptest.

Code: Select all

$ pwd
/home/djph/ziptest
$ ls -l 
total 64
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph 48158 Sep 24 08:01 Final Code.zip
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph   296 Sep 24 08:01 openvolt.zip
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph  5584 Sep 24 08:01 rc.zip
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph   832 Sep 24 08:01 test.zip

And running the script (it's in the directory /home/djph/Programming/src, just to show it'll work anywhere) NOTE - you have to use the full/correct path. It doesn't deal with bash expansions like $HOME or ~

Code: Select all

$ pwd 
/home/djph/Programming/src
$ bash unzip.sh
Please enter starting directory: /home/djph/ziptest/
Archive:  ../Final Code.zip
  inflating: CODE FINAL.txt
Archive:  ../openvolt.zip
  inflating: openvolt
Archive:  ../rc.zip
  inflating: rc.lua
Archive:  ../test.zip
  inflating: testfile.txt
  inflating: test.txt
  inflating: test.sh
processing complete.

And the result in ~/ziptest. As you can see, a new subdirectory is created for each zip archive, and the contents are extracted into the given subdirectory (as opposed to all of them unzipping and jumbling up the files in the parent 'ziptest' directory).

Code: Select all

$ pwd
/home/djph/ziptest
$ ls -l 
total 80
drwxr-xr-x 2 djph djph  4096 Sep 24 08:06 Final Code
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph 48158 Sep 24 08:01 Final Code.zip
drwxr-xr-x 2 djph djph  4096 Sep 24 08:06 openvolt
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph   296 Sep 24 08:01 openvolt.zip
drwxr-xr-x 2 djph djph  4096 Sep 24 08:06 rc
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph  5584 Sep 24 08:01 rc.zip
drwxr-xr-x 2 djph djph  4096 Sep 24 08:06 test
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph   832 Sep 24 08:01 test.zip
$ cd Final\ Code
$ ls -l 
total 196
-rw-r--r-- 1 djph djph 199556 Jun  4 19:57 CODE FINAL.txt