Cross-Platform ‘zip’ Compression
Stable version:
install.packages("zip")Development version:
pak::pak("r-lib/zip")unzip() on URLs.zip_process() and
unzip_process(), need the processx package.library(zip)zip() creates a new ZIP archive. (It overwrites the
output file if it exists.) Simply supply all directories and files that
you want to include in the archive.
It makes sense to change to the top-level directory of the files before archiving them, so that the files are stored using a relative path name.
zip("sources.zip", c("R", "src"))
file.info("sources.zip")
#> size isdir mode mtime ctime
#> sources.zip 603127 FALSE 644 2025-01-07 10:40:54 2025-01-07 10:40:54
#> atime uid gid uname grname
#> sources.zip 2023-11-03 17:09:37 501 20 gaborcsardi staffDirectories are added recursively by default.
zip_append() is similar to zip(), but it
appends files to an existing ZIP archive.
zip_list() lists files in a ZIP archive. It returns a
data frame:
zip_list("sources.zip")
#> # A data frame: 49 × 7
#> filename compressed_size uncompressed_size timestamp permissions
#> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dttm> <octmode>
#> 1 R/ 0 0 2025-01-07 09:36:04 755
#> 2 R/assertio… 151 398 2023-04-17 10:20:40 644
#> 3 R/compat-v… 3333 13294 2025-01-07 09:36:04 644
#> 4 R/inflate.R 627 2174 2023-04-17 10:20:40 644
#> 5 R/process.R 1793 6585 2023-04-17 10:20:40 644
#> 6 R/utils.R 1184 3757 2025-01-07 09:36:50 644
#> 7 R/zip-pack… 99 122 2023-11-07 01:18:44 644
#> 8 R/zip.R 3290 10384 2025-01-07 09:39:50 644
#> 9 src/ 0 0 2025-01-07 09:01:34 755
#> 10 src/init.c 406 1043 2023-11-07 01:18:16 644
#> # ℹ 39 more rows
#> # ℹ 2 more variables: crc32 <hexmode>, offset <dbl>unzip() uncompresses a ZIP archive:
exdir <- tempfile()
unzip("sources.zip", exdir = exdir)
dir(exdir)
#> [1] "R" "src"unzip() and zip_list() also work on HTTP(S)
URLs, without downloading the whole file. This needs the curl package to
be installed:
zip_list("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/r-lib/zip/main/inst/example.zip")
#> # A data frame: 4 × 8
#> filename compressed_size uncompressed_size timestamp permissions
#> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dttm> <octmode>
#> 1 example/ 0 0 2019-02-23 21:48:06 755
#> 2 example/dir/ 0 0 2019-02-23 21:49:36 755
#> 3 example/dir… 11 6 2019-02-23 21:48:24 644
#> 4 example/fil… 11 6 2019-02-23 21:48:28 644
#> # ℹ 3 more variables: crc32 <hexmode>, offset <dbl>, type <chr>
unzip(
"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/r-lib/zip/main/inst/example.zip",
"example/file1",
exdir = exdir
)Pass a password argument to encrypt entries with WinZip
AES-256 (the default), which is supported by 7-Zip, WinZip, and macOS
Archive Utility:
zip("secret.zip", "R", password = "hunter2")
zip_list("secret.zip")
#> # A data frame: 9 × 9
#> filename compressed_size uncompressed_size timestamp permissions
#> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dttm> <octmode>
#> 1 R/ 0 0 2026-06-09 10:32:24 755
#> 2 R/assertion… 178 388 2026-06-08 09:00:44 644
#> 3 R/compat-vc… 3415 14344 2026-06-08 09:00:44 644
#> 4 R/http.R 4893 16515 2026-06-08 12:10:24 644
#> 5 R/inflate.R 769 2390 2026-06-08 12:10:24 644
#> 6 R/process.R 2140 7474 2026-06-09 10:42:48 644
#> 7 R/utils.R 2249 7483 2026-06-09 10:27:50 644
#> 8 R/zip-packa… 127 122 2026-06-08 09:00:44 644
#> 9 R/zip.R 5218 16564 2026-06-09 10:32:24 644
#> # ℹ 4 more variables: crc32 <hexmode>, offset <dbl>, type <chr>,
#> # encryption <chr>
unzip("secret.zip", exdir = tempfile(), password = "hunter2")You can use the zip_process() and
unzip_process() functions to create background zip / unzip
processes. These processes were implemented on top of the
processx::process class, so they are pollable.
zip() and unzip() (and co.) support
progress bars if the cli package is installed. This is
disabled by default (for now), but can be enabled by setting the
zip_progress option or the ZIP_PROGRESS
environment variable to TRUE.
zip_password: The default password for ZIP encryption
and decryption. Can be set to a string, a raw vector, or a function
returning one.zip_progress: If set to TRUE, progress
bars are enabled. Takes precedence over the ZIP_PROGRESS
environment variable.zip_threads: The number of threads to use for threaded
operations. Takes precedence over the ZIP_THREADS
environment variable.R_ZIP_PROCESS_FALLBACK: If set to TRUE,
unzip_process() functions will fall back to using an R
subprocess, without trying to use the cmdunzip executable embedded into
the package. This is useful when cmdunzip.exe is blocked by
system policies on Windows.ZIP_PROGRESS: If set to TRUE, progress
bars are enabled. The zip_progress option takes precedence
over this environment variable.ZIP_THREADS: The number of threads to use for threaded
operations. The zip_threads option takes precedence over
this environment variable.MIT