gunzip — Decompress gzip files

Linux / File and disk management / gunzip.html

Decompresses .gz files created by gzip back to their original content.

Basic Information

What is this command?

gunzip decompresses files in the gzip format (.gz). By default it restores the original file and removes the .gz archive.

It behaves like gzip -d, and when used with pipes it can decompress a stream without creating files.

What problems does it solve?

• You need to read the contents of a .gz file
• You are unpacking log archives for analysis
• You want to restore the original file name
• You need to decompress a stream through a pipe

Key features

Decompress a file

Expands the given .gz file back to the original.

• When to use: You received a compressed file
• What you get: A file with the original name
• Limitations: The .gz file is removed by default.

Keep the archive

-k keeps the compressed file.

• When to use: You must keep the archive as well
• What you get: Both the original and the archive
• Limitations: It uses twice the disk space.

Decompress to stdout

-c writes the result to the screen or a pipe.

• When to use: You only need the content or want to pipe it
• What you get: Decompressed output without new files
• Limitations: Binary output can garble the terminal.

Installation and usage

Check whether it is installed

gunzip --version

sudo apt install coreutils # Debian/Ubuntu sudo dnf install coreutils # Fedora

Real-world examples

Expand a file

Expand a log archive into the original file.

gunzip access.log.gz

Keep the archive

Decompress while keeping the archive.

gunzip -k backup.sql.gz

Preview content

Preview the start without creating files.

gunzip -c app.log.gz | head -n 20