What parameters are ok to pass to 7-zip .exe file creation while using the GUI

Question

What parameters are ok to pass to the create archive wizard , in the 7-zip GUI, when you are creating a self extracting archive? The 7-Zip GUI has a field that allows you to type in multiple parameters.

I tried an obvious parameter (shown below) but it fails for an unknown reason:

-oC:\

Answer 1

From what I can gather from your comments, it sounds like you are asking something else. It sounds like you are asking

1. What is the purpose of the Parameters field of the 7-zip dialog?
2. Why does it not work when you use the -o argument in that field?

If so, then the answers are simple (and related):

1. The Parameters field is for specifying any options you need that are not available via dedicated dialog controls.

2. The -o argument is ignored in the Parameters field because there is already a dedicated dialog control for the destination. The controls override corresponding options in the Parameters field.

Think about it this way, if you want to specify arguments in the Parameters field that already have dialog controls, then why use the GUI at all, why not just use the command-line in the first place? The dialog controls provide most options that are used and also reduce the possibility of error by specifying valid options. For example, the word-size options are already listed in the drop-down, so you cannot choose an invalid size like you can when specifying it in the Parameters field or command-line.

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Some examples of usage of the Parameters field include:

• One such argument is exclusion (-x switch). If you want to specify filenames to be excluded, there is no option to do so in the dialog, and so you would have to enter them in the Parameters field.

• You would also use it to specify the -y switch to automatically say yes to everything instead of prompting you.

• You can even use it to override some of the options that the dialog automatically sets such as subdirectory recursion. When you use the dialog, it automatically sets recursion. If you don’t want that, you would need to specify -r- in the Parameters field.

For a full list, you can look at the list of command-line arguments (7z /?) and compare it to the controls in the dialog.

Answer 2

Unfortunately the only parameters accepted at this time for the GUI "Add to Archive" dialog appear to be only for specifying compression method. There appears to be confusion about this and hopefully the developers will add more parameters to this GUI in future versions.

This is what documentation states is supported parameters:

Parameters
Allows you to specify parameters for compression. See the -m (Method) switch description for more details. Omit the -m prefix (as in -m switch) when using this dialog box.

Examples

  0=PPMd uses PPMd method for compressing files.

  0=bcj2 1=lzma:d23 2=lzma 3=lzma b0:1 b0s1:2 b0s2:3 uses BCJ2 filter (for x86 executables) and LZMA.

As for SFX creation it appears that there is no optional parameters to supply for the GUI.

Alternatively, The supplied documentation for command line -sfx may be of some use to you. Also, see http://7zsfx.info/en/ for examples and more than what documentation holds for sfx creation.

Answer 3

7-Zip doesn’t use the -o switch for the output file path of self-extracting archives, it uses the -sfx switch.

For a regular archive you use:

-o c:\foobar.7z

But for a self-extracting archive you use:

-sfx c:\foobar.exe

Answer 4

All GUI and Command Line parameters are in each 7-zip installed dir's 7-zip.chm file.

page: https://sourceforge.net/p/openbor/tools/3021/tree/tools/7-Zip/7-zip.chm

download: https://sourceforge.net/p/openbor/tools/3021/tree/tools/7-Zip/7-zip.chm?format=raw

e.g. Using 7-zip GUI to compress files to a zip file. If you want to set the file name and subdir path encoding to UTF-8, you can fill param cu to do it. The cu param is locate in 7-zip.chm --> Command Line Version --> Switches --> -m --> cu=[off | on] off 7-Zip uses UTF-8 for file names that contain non-ASCII symbols.

Answer 5

2019 update

In answer to the bounty : Nothing has changed.

From the help of the 7-Zip File Manager, quoted:

Parameters

Allows you to specify parameters for compression. See the -m (Method) switch description for more details. Omit the -m prefix (as in -m switch) when using this dialog box.

Examples

f=delta:4

uses Delta:4 filter (if you want to compress WAV files).

f=bcj2

uses BCJ2 filter (for x86 executables).

There are minor syntactical changes from the answer by Sn3akyP3t3, but in essence nothing has changed.