How do I insert a folder into a ZIP file?

Question

I'm a newbie on Linux and had to do something like this with the zip command:

My folder structure inside a zip file abc.zip is:

-- currentdir
  -- onestepdeep
     -- abc.zip
       -- folder1
         -- textfile.txt
       -- folder2
  -- seconddir
    -- folder3 
      -- textfile.txt

I need to copy the file textfile.txt from the seconddir/folder3 into folder1 inside abc.zip

I could move textfile.txt into abc.zip with the following outcomes:

1. It would move into abc.zip as folder3/textfile.txt (the hierarchy preserved)
2. Also used a -j switch (help said it junked the path info and it did but) - it would move only into abc.zip and sit at the same level as folder1 and folder2 instead of replacing the textfile.txt within abc.zip/folder1

My question is - I want to replace the abc.zip/folder1/textfile.txt with the one inside seconddir/folder3/textfile.txt.

How do I achieve this via the command line interface?

Answer 1

I always roll with tar myself...

tar -cjf destination_archive_file.tar.bz2 /path/to/directory/to/archive

That would give ya a file 'destination_archive_file.tar.bz2' with all the contents within '/path/to/directory/to/archive' stored in it.

Then to extract, you just use:

tar -xjvf destination_archive_file.tar.bz2

Anyway, I know you blatantly asked for zip, not tar. I've tried zip a few times and found it to be a little counter-intuitive. Never did bother to really figure it out since I'd just use tar and get on with it. If you need to extrat a tar in Windows, 7-zip or winrar should do the trick. I'm pretty sure OSX supports it natively.

Answer 2

I also use tar, but if you require zip then:

zip -b path/to/create/in zipfile.zip textfile.txt

Answer 3

Maybe install fuse-zip, which is a very convenient tool. The following command:

fuse-zip abc.zip abc.mnt

will show the content of abc.zip in an abc.mnt directory. Then do whatever you want with the content of the directory:

cp -r ../seconddir/folder3 abc.mnt/

After that, unmount the directory:

fusermount -u abc.mnt; rm -rf abc.mnt

You're done.