How to create a zip archive with PowerShell?

Question

Is it possible to create a zip archive using PowerShell?

Answer 1

In case you have WinRAR installed:

function ZipUsingRar([String] $directory, [String] $zipFileName)
{
  Write-Output "Performing operation ""Zip File"" on Target ""Item: $directory Destination:"
  Write-Output ($zipFileName + """")
  $pathToWinRar = "c:\Program Files\WinRAR\WinRar.exe";
  [Array]$arguments = "a", "-afzip", "-df", "-ep1", "$zipFileName", "$directory";
  & $pathToWinRar $arguments;
}

The meaning of the arguments: afzip creates zip archive, df deletes files, ep1 does not create full directory path within archive

Answer 2

Here a complete command line example to launch from cmd.exe or from ssh or what you want !

powershell.exe -nologo -noprofile -command "&{ Add-Type -A 'System.IO.Compression.FileSystem' [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::CreateFromDirectory('c:/path/to/source/folder/', 'c:/path/to/output/file.zip');}"

Regards

Answer 3

Here is a slightly improved version of sonjz's answer,it adds an overwrite option.

function Zip-Files(
        [Parameter(Position=0, Mandatory=$true, ValueFromPipeline=$false)]
        [string] $zipfilename,
        [Parameter(Position=1, Mandatory=$true, ValueFromPipeline=$false)]
        [string] $sourcedir,
        [Parameter(Position=2, Mandatory=$false, ValueFromPipeline=$false)]
        [bool] $overwrite)

{
   Add-Type -Assembly System.IO.Compression.FileSystem
   $compressionLevel = [System.IO.Compression.CompressionLevel]::Optimal

    if ($overwrite -eq $true )
    {
        if (Test-Path $zipfilename)
        {
            Remove-Item $zipfilename
        }
    }

    [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::CreateFromDirectory($sourcedir, $zipfilename, $compressionLevel, $false)
}

Answer 4

Why does no one look at the documentation?? There's a supported method of creating an empty zip file and adding individual files to it built into the same .NET 4.5 library everyone is referencing.

See below for a code example:

# Load the .NET assembly
Add-Type -Assembly 'System.IO.Compression.FileSystem'

# Must be used for relative file locations with .NET functions instead of Set-Location:
[System.IO.Directory]::SetCurrentDirectory('.\Desktop')

# Create the zip file and open it:
$z = [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::Open('z.zip', [System.IO.Compression.ZipArchiveMode]::Create)

# Add a compressed file to the zip file:
[System.IO.Compression.ZipFileExtensions]::CreateEntryFromFile($z, 't.txt', 't.txt')

# Close the file
$z.Dispose()

I encourage you to browse the documentation if you have any questions.

Answer 5

Install 7zip (or download the command line version instead) and use this PowerShell method:

function create-7zip([String] $aDirectory, [String] $aZipfile){
    [string]$pathToZipExe = "$($Env:ProgramFiles)\7-Zip\7z.exe";
    [Array]$arguments = "a", "-tzip", "$aZipfile", "$aDirectory", "-r";
    & $pathToZipExe $arguments;
}

You can the call it like this:

create-7zip "c:\temp\myFolder" "c:\temp\myFolder.zip"

Answer 6

Loading the [System.IO.IOException] class and using its methods is an important step in order to suppress unwanted errors, due the fact that it's a class not native to PowerShell, so expect various contexts of errors without it.

I error-controlled my script to the T, but got a lot of extra red 'file exists' output while using [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile] class

function zipFiles(
    [Parameter(Position=0, Mandatory=$true]
    [string] $sourceFolder,
    [Parameter(Position=1, Mandatory=$true]
    [string]$zipFileName,
    [Parameter(Position=2, Mandatory=$false]
    [bool]$overwrite)

{   
Add-Type -Assembly System.IO
Add-Type -Assembly System.IO.Compression.FileSystem

$compressionLevel = [System.IO.Compression.CompressionLevel]::Optimal

$directoryTest = (Test-Path $dailyBackupDestFolder)
$fileTest = (Test-Path $zipFileName)

if ( $directoryTest -eq $false) 
{ 
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dailyBackupDestFolder 
}

     if ( $fileTest -eq $true)
     {
           if ($overwrite -eq $true ){Remove-Item $zipFileName}
     }   


    try
    {
         [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::CreateFromDirectory($sourceFolder,$zipFileName,$compressionLevel)       

    }
    catch [System.IO.IOException] 
    {
       Write-Output ($dateTime + ' | ' + $_.Exception.Message ) | Out-File $logFile -append -force 
    }
} 

What I am doing here is catching these IO Errors, such as accessing files that exist already, catching that error and directing it to a logfile that I am maintaining with a larger program.