Extract a certain file from an archive with 7-Zip from the command line

If I have an archive, for example, some.zip that contains one or more files, how can I extract only one file (I know the name of the file) with 7-Zip from the command line in Windows?

Kiesoo

Posted 2011-08-11T10:46:38.497

Reputation: 351

Answers

As a follow-up to surfasb's answer, add a -r flag at the end to recurse:

7z e [archive.zip] -o[outputdir] [fileFilter] -r

Multiple filters support:

7z e [archive.zip] -o[outputdir] [fileFilter_1] [fileFilter_2] -r

Example:

Multiple filters command line:

7z e archive.zip -o outputdir *.xml *.dll -r

PS: I use 7za.exe instead of 7z.exe. This is the actual command I use in my script:

7za.exe x archive.zip -o outputdir *.xml *.pdb *.exe *.ocx *.dll -r

zionyx

Posted 2011-08-11T10:46:38.497

Reputation: 491

1How can I add multiple file filters, say .XML and .zip? Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread, I just didn't want to add a duplicate question. – Fr0zenFyr – 2014-06-21T05:25:44.520

1Should be fine by separating the filters by space. See the edited answer above. :) – zionyx – 2014-08-26T14:06:16.023

And how do I extract a specific file from an archive inside the archive? Lets say the file I'm looking for is "MyFile.txt" inside "SubArchive.zip" inside "MainArchive.zip". Is this possible? – PeterCo – 2017-10-27T12:14:37.367

1@PeterCo, I think the command is only capable to extract SubArchive.zip from the MainArchive.zip in your case. You may run a follow up command to extract MyFile.txt from SubArchive.zip after the initial extraction. – zionyx – 2018-01-05T09:09:00.973

You just add the filename at the end.

7z e [archive.zip]-o[outputdir] [fileFilter]

surfasb

Posted 2011-08-11T10:46:38.497

Reputation: 21 453

1How can I add multiple file filters, say .XML and .zip? Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread, I just didn't want to add a duplicate question. – Fr0zenFyr – 2014-06-21T05:25:11.260

It's a different question @Fr0zenFyr. To make it clear that it is not duplicate, you can reference this question in your own, and then specify how yours is different. – music2myear – 2017-01-23T23:18:13.177

@music2myear: Thanks for clarification. Top voted answer by zionyx already includes a solution. My comment is over 2 years old, so it would be a reasonable guess to assume that I either used above solution or already posted a question and found an answer (BTW, this was my case). My resolved post is on SO and original thread created before my comment is here so I couldn't link to this question. :)

– Fr0zenFyr – 2017-01-25T10:00:45.200

Note : as it is written here, do not put space between -o and outputdir. – King's jester – 2019-10-25T09:38:29.873

If you look at the man page for 7z you will find that the following command can be used to extract a file from a 7z archive (though the usage of path is missing from the man page):

7z x <archive> <path to file>

Examples:

7z x backup.7z *.html
7z x backup.7z folderwithin/myfile.html

Alternatively you could use e.

The command line version users guide seems to have more information on the actual usage.

Todd Partridge

Posted 2011-08-11T10:46:38.497

Reputation: 235

2Is that the relative path within the archive? – music2myear – 2017-01-23T23:18:35.357

Yes, the "folderwithin" is a folder at the root of the archive. – King's jester – 2019-10-25T08:37:56.853

Note that 7z has the following syntax (observe the spaces and quotes surrounding the "-oMy Folder" option to set the output folder name, took me hours to figure out, as I originally did this – the wrong way: * -o "My Folder" *):

7z e "my zip.zip" "-oMy Folder" *.jpg "all of these.*" -r

Albert Marenčin

Posted 2011-08-11T10:46:38.497

Reputation: 11