Archive Module

Introduction#

The Archive module Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive provides functions for storing files in ZIP archives (Compress-Archive) and extracting them (Expand-Archive). This module is available in PowerShell 5.0 and above.

In earlier versions of PowerShell the Community Extensions or .NET System.IO.Compression.FileSystem could be used.

Syntax#

Expand-Archive / Compress-Archive
-Path
- the path of the file(s) to compress (Compress-Archive) or
the path of the archive to extract the file(s) form (Expand-Archive)
- there are several other Path related options, please see below.
-DestinationPath (optional)
- if you do not supply this path, the archive will be created in the current working directory (Compress-Archive) or the contents of the archive will be extracted into the current working directory (Expand-Archive)

Parameters#

Parameter	Details
CompressionLevel	(Compress-Archive only) Set compression level to either `Fastest`, `Optimal` or `NoCompression`
Confirm	Prompts for confirmation before running
Force	Forces the command to run without confirmation
LiteralPath	Path that is used literaly, no wildcards supported, use `,` to specify multiple paths
Path	Path that can contain wildcards, use `,` to specify multiple paths
Update	(Compress-Archive only) Update existing archive
WhatIf	Simulate the command
## Remarks#
See MSDN Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive (5.1) for further reference
## Compress-Archive with wildcard

Compress-Archive -Path C:\Documents\* -CompressionLevel Optimal -DestinationPath C:\Archives\Documents.zip

This command:

Compresses all files in C:\Documents
Uses Optimal compression
Save the resulting archive in C:\Archives\Documents.zip
- -DestinationPath will add .zipif not present.
- -LiteralPath can be used if you require naming it without .zip.

Update existing ZIP with Compress-Archive

Compress-Archive -Path C:\Documents\* -Update -DestinationPath C:\Archives\Documents.zip

this will add or replace all files Documents.zip with the new ones from C:\Documents

Extract a Zip with Expand-Archive

Expand-Archive -Path C:\Archives\Documents.zip -DestinationPath C:\Documents

this will extract all files from Documents.zip into the folder C:\Documents