Unix: Visual QuickStart Guide, Second Edition

Chapter 13. Working with Encoded & Compressed Files

Chapter Contents

• Encoding files

• Decoding files

• Archiving files

• Unarchiving files

• Compressing files

• Uncompressing files

• Zipping single files

• Unzipping single files

• Zipping multiple files and directories

• Unzipping multiple files and directories

• Combining commands

As you use Unix, you will likely encounter encoded or compressed files and need to extract, unencode, encode, or otherwise manipulate the files to be able to view or use them. This chapter discusses different ways of encoding and compressing files.

Encoding Files with uuencode

You’ll use encoding whenever you’re sending a binary file (a nontext file) through email or posting one to a newsgroup. Although many email programs and news readers will take ...