bzip2

The bzip2 command is a file compression tool that uses the Burrows-Wheeler block sorting text compression algorithm and Huffman coding. It compresses files more tightly than gzip but less so than xz.

Basic Syntax

bzip2 [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Common Options

Option	Description
-d, --decompress	Force decompression.
-k, --keep	Keep (don't delete) input files.
-z, --compress	Force compression.
-1 to -9	Set block size to 100k .. 900k when compressing (default is 900k).

Real-world Examples

1. Compress a file (replaces file with file.bz2):

   bzip2 access.log

2. Compress a file and keep the original:

   bzip2 -k access.log

3. Decompress a .bz2 file:

   bzip2 -d archive.tar.bz2

   (Alternatively, use bunzip2 archive.tar.bz2)

4. Compress with the fastest but least efficient mode:

   bzip2 -1 large_file.img