uncompress

Decompress Unix compress (.Z) files

TLDR

Uncompress files

$ uncompress [path/to/file1.Z] [path/to/file2.Z]

Ignore non-existent files

$ uncompress -f [path/to/file1.Z] [path/to/file2.Z]

Write to stdout

$ uncompress -c [path/to/file1.Z]

Verbose mode

$ uncompress -v [path/to/file1.Z]

uncompress decompresses files compressed using the Unix compress command. Files typically have a .Z extension. The original compressed file is replaced by the uncompressed version unless -c is used.This format uses LZW compression and was common on older Unix systems before gzip became standard.

PARAMETERS

-c

Write to stdout, don't modify files

-f

Force, ignore non-existent files

-v

Verbose, show compression percentage

INSTALL

sudo apt install gzip

sudo dnf install gzip

sudo pacman -S gzip

sudo apk add gzip

sudo zypper install gzip

brew install gzip

nix profile install nixpkgs#gzip

CAVEATS

LZW compression format is largely obsolete. Most systems now use gzip or newer compression. The compress/uncompress commands may not be installed by default.

HISTORY

uncompress is part of the traditional Unix compress utilities using LZW compression, predating the more common gzip format.