10+ bzip2 command examples in Linux [Cheat Sheet]


CheatSheet

Reviewer: Deepak Prasad

Introduction to bzip2 command

File compression is a technique in which the file or group of files is compressed into a single archive file to reduce the size. There are several tools that you can use to compress files in Linux such as gzip, 7zip, tar, bzip2, etc.

bzip2 is one of the popular compression tools for Linux. It uses the Burrows-Wheeler block sorting text compression algorithm and Huffman coding. It can only compress files, not directories.

 

Syntax to use bzip2 command

The bzip2 command is simple to use. The syntax is as follows:

$ bzip2 [option] filename

Some important options in bzip2 are:

  • -d: To decompress files
  • -t: To test the integrity of a compressed file
  • -f: Forcefully overwrite existing files
  • -k: Keep original input file after compression or decompression

If no filenames are specified, bzip2 tries to compress from standard input to standard output. bzip2 declines to write compressed output to a terminal.

golinux@ubuntu-PC:~$ bzip2
bzip2: I won't write compressed data to a terminal.
bzip2: For help, type: `bzip2 --help'.

 

Different examples to use bzip2 command

1. bzip2 command to compress a file

You can specify a file name after bzip2 command to compress a specified file. The original file will be replaced by the compressed version having the file name "original_name.bz2".

$ bzip2 test.txt

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to compress a file

 

2. bzip2 command to compress multiple files

To compress multiple files, you will have to specify multiple files in a single bzip2 command.

$ bzip2 test1.txt test2.txt test3.txt

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to compress multiple files

You can use wildcard (*) to compress all files. The *.txt compresses all text files in the directory.

$ bzip2 *.txt

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to compress files

 

3. bzip2 command to decompress a file

You can decompress or extract a .bz2 files using the -d or --decompress option.

$ bzip2 -d test.txt.bz2

OR

$ bzip2 --decompress test.txt.bz2

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to decompress a file

You can specify multiple .bz2 files to extract them all.

$ bzip2 -d test1.txt.bz2 test2.txt.bz2 test3.txt.bz2

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to decompress multiple files

 

4. Compress a file forcefully using bzip2 command

The -z or --compress option forces compression of a file, regardless of the invocation name.

$ bzip2 -z test.txt

OR

$ bzip2 --compress test.txt

 

5. Keep original files after compression or decompression

You might have noticed that the input files are replaced by the compressed or decompressed version of the file. You can change this behavior and opt to keep original files using the -k or --keep option.

$ bzip2 -k test.txt

OR

$ bzip2 --keep test.txt

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to keep input file during compression or decompression

 

6. Check integrity of the compressed file

You can test the integrity of the compressed file using the -t or --test option. It is helpful to know whether the specified file is a valid bzip2 file or not.

$ bzip2 -t test.txt.bz2

OR

$ bzip2 --test test.txt.bz2

Sample Output:

golinux@ubuntu-PC:~$ bzip2 -tv test.txt.bz2
  test.txt.bz2: ok

Suppose, you created a bzip2 file using the cat command. If you test the integrity of that file, you will get the following errors.

bzip2 command to test the integrity of a file

7. Force overwrite of output files

Normally, bzip2 does not overwrite the existing file. The -f or --force option forces the bzip command to overwrite the existing file with the output file. It also forces bzip2 to break hard links to files.

$ bzip2 -f test.txt

OR

$ bzip2 --force test.txt

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to force overwrite of output files

 

8. Compress or decompress to standard output

The -c or -stdout option is used to compress or decompress the file to standard output.

$ bzip2 -c filename

OR

$ bzip2 --stdout filename

Sample Output:

When decompressing, it shows the content of a file.

bzip2 command to compress or decompress to standard output

You can also use the bzcat command to display the content of a compressed file.

golinux@ubuntu-PC:~$ bzcat test.txt.bz2
This is a test file.

 

9. bzip2 command to add compression level

When compressing, bzip2 command allows you to specify the compression level ranging from -1 (or --fast) to -9 (or --best). It has no effect when decompressing. By default, bzip2 uses the -6 compression level to compress files.

The following command uses the -1 or --fast compression level which has the fastest compression speed with a lesser compression ratio.

$ bzip2 -1 test.txt

OR

$ bzip2 --fast test.txt

The compression level -9 or --best has the lowest compression speed with a maximum compression ratio.

$ bzip2 -9 test.txt

OR

$ bzip2 --best test.txt

 

10. Display the verbose output of a command

The -v or --verbose turns the verbose mode on and displays the compression ratio for each file processed.

$ bzip2 -v test.txt

OR

$ bzip2 --verbose test.txt

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to display output

Using multiple v increases the verbosity level resulting in more information that can be used for diagnostic purposes.

bzip2 command to display verbose output

 

11. Suppress warning messages in the output

The -q or --quiet option suppresses the non-essential warning messages in the output. It does not hide the warnings related to I/O errors and other critical events.

$ bzip2 -q filename

OR

$ bzip2 --quiet filename

Sample Output:

bzip2 command to suppress warning message

 

12. Reduce memory usage

The -s or --small option reduces the memory usage, for compression, decompression, and testing. It uses a modified algorithm that only requires 2.5 bytes per block byte to decompress and test a file.

$ bzip2 -s filename

OR

$ bzip2 --small filename

 

Conclusion

This tutorial teaches you how to compress files using bzip2 command in Linux. We hope this article helps you to understand the bzip2 tool and its features. If you still have any confusion, please let us know in the comment section below.

 

What's Next

15+ tar command examples in Linux [Cheat Sheet]
20 grep command examples in Linux [Cheat Sheet]

 

Further Reading

man page for bzip2 command

 

Rohan Timalsina

Rohan Timalsina

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