gunzip

The gunzip command is used to decompress files created by gzip, zip, compress, or pack. It is functionally equivalent to gzip -d.

Basic Syntax

gunzip [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Common Options

Option	Description
-k, --keep	Keep (don't delete) input files during decompression.
-r, --recursive	Operate recursively on directories.
-c, --stdout	Write output on standard output; keep original files unchanged.
-v, --verbose	Verbose output.

Real-world Examples

1. Decompress a .gz file:

   gunzip archive.txt.gz

   (This replaces archive.txt.gz with archive.txt)

2. Decompress and keep the original compressed file:

   gunzip -k archive.txt.gz

3. View the contents of a compressed file without decompressing:

   gunzip -c logfile.gz | less

   (Alternatively, use zcat logfile.gz)