Hello, fellow developers! Today, we'll explore the process of compressing and extracting files and folders on a remote server using SSH commands. This skill comes in handy when you need to efficiently transfer or backup multiple files or directories. Let's dive into this step-by-step guide with practical examples!

Step 1: Connect to Your Remote Server via SSH 
Using your preferred SSH client, connect to your remote server. For example:

ssh user@your_server_ip

You'll be prompted to enter your password or SSH key passphrase.

Step 2: Zip Files and Folders
To compress files and folders into a zip archive, use the zip command. The basic syntax is:

zip archive_name.zip file1 file2 folder1 folder2

Example - Compressing a Single File:

zip example.zip file.txt

Example - Compressing Multiple Files and Folders:

zip archive.zip file1.txt file2.jpg folder1 folder2

Step 3: Unzip Files and Folders
To extract files and folders from a zip archive, use the unzip command. The basic syntax is:

unzip archive_name.zip

Example - Unzipping a File:

unzip example.zip

This will extract the contents of example.zip into the current directory.

Step 4: Unzip to a Specific Directory
If you want to extract the zip contents to a specific directory, use the -d flag followed by the destination directory path.

unzip example.zip -d /path/to/destination

This will extract the contents of example.zip into the specified directory.

Step 5: Additional Zip and Unzip Options
Both zip and unzip commands offer various options to control compression and extraction behavior. For example:

• -r: Recursively compress directories (zip) or extract directories (unzip).
• -j: Store just the file, without directory information (zip).
• -u: Update existing files (zip).
• -l: List the contents of a zip archive without extracting.

For more options, check the respective manual pages using:

man zip
man unzip

Step 6: Exit the Remote Server
Once you've finished zipping and unzipping files, you can exit the remote server by typing:

exit

That's it! You've learned how to zip and unzip files and folders on your remote server using SSH commands. This skill is valuable when managing and transferring large sets of data efficiently.

Happy zipping and unzipping!