_g_z_i_p  currently is the most widely used general purpose com
pression program on Linux/Unix systems.  One reason for this
popularity  is  cross-platform  support.   Certain  types of
gzipped files -- notably gzipped _t_a_r archive files  --  also
can  be  uncompressed  and extracted on Windows systems with
the _W_i_n_z_i_p utility (available on the ECMC Windows  systems).

_b_z_i_p_2  is  a more recent general purpose Linux/Unix compres
sion program that often provides 20 % or more  greater  com
pression  than  _g_z_i_p.   However, it is less frequently used,
and bzipped  files  currently  cannot  be  uncompressed  and
extracted  by  _W_i_n_z_i_p on Windows systems.  Unix-based Macin
tosh systems (OS X and higher) include both _g_z_i_p and  _b_z_i_p_2,
and  many older (OS 8 and OS 9) Mac systems also can extract
_g_z_i_p_p_e_d files.

The commands used to  compress  and  uncompress  files  with
_g_z_i_p  and  _b_z_i_p_2  are very similar.  To _c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s one or more
files:
     _g_z_i_p  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e  _[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_N_]
     or
     _b_z_i_p_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e  _[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_N_]
_g_z_i_p will append the extension _._g_z to  the  compressed  file
names.  _b_z_i_p_2  will  append  the file name extension _._b_z_2 to
files it compresses.

To view an ASCII file that has been compressed you can type
     _g_z_c_a_t  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e SGI)  or  _z_c_a_t   _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e  (Linux)  for
     _g_z_i_p_p_e_d files or
     _b_z_c_a_t   _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e   (SGI  or  Linux) for files that have
     been compressed with _b_z_i_p_2.

To _u_n_c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s (decompress) files, you can  use  any  of  the
variant commands below. _g_z_i_p allows you to omit the _._g_z file
name extension of the compressed input  files.  With  _b_z_i_p_2,
however, you must type in the complete input file names (you
cannot omit the _._b_z_2 extension.
     _g_z_i_p _-_d  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e  _[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_N_]
     or
     _g_z_i_p _-_-_d_e_c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e  _[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_N_]
     or
     _g_u_n_z_i_p  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e  _[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_N_]

     _b_z_i_p_2 _-_d _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_._b_z_2  _[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2_._b_z_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_N_._b_z_2_]
     or
     _b_z_i_p_2 _-_-_d_e_c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_._b_z_2  _[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2_._b_z_2  _f_i_l_e_
     _n_a_m_e_N_._b_z_2_]
     or
     _b_u_n_z_i_p_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_._b_z_2  _[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2_._b_z_2  _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_N_._b_z_2_]

Example: To compress an archive file previously created with
_t_a_r:
       _g_z_i_p   _$_S_F_D_I_R_/_S_E_C_T_I_O_N_2_._t_a_r
Result: The _t_a_r archive file _S_E_C_T_I_O_N_2_._t_a_r,  located  in  our
current  working  soundfile  directory,  is  compressed, and
renamed _S_E_C_T_I_O_N_2_._t_a_r_._g_z.  (Note that  for  maximum  compres
sion,  the  source  soundfiles within the _t_a_r archive should
have been compressed with _s_h_o_r_t_e_n_/_r_u_n_s_f_c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s  before  the
archive was created.)
Later,  to  uncompress  this  archive and extract the source
soundfiles, we could issue this sequence of commands:
     _g_u_n_z_i_p  _$_S_F_D_I_R_/_S_E_C_T_I_O_N_2_._t_a_r       (or    _g_u_n_z_i_p    _S_E_C_
     _T_I_O_N_2_._t_a_r_._g_z)
        and then
     _t_a_r_s_f _x_v_f _S_E_C_T_I_O_N_2_._t_a_r

gzipped tarballs like this example are very commonly encoun
tered on web and _f_t_p download sites.  Consolidating  all  of
the  files  required by a downloadable application, or group
of applications, into a single compressed archive  file  not
only  conserves  disk  space on the server, and also greatly
reduces downloading times across the net. Downloadable files
with  the  extension  _._t_g_z (an abbreviation for _._t_a_r_._g_z) are
always in this format.

Wild card characters (chiefly *)  can  be  used  to  specify
groups of files:
     _g_z_i_p  _*_._o_r_c
will  cause  _g_z_i_p to compress all files in your current Unix
directory that end with the character string ".orc"
     _b_z_i_p_2 _-_d  _$_S_F_D_I_R_/_*_._b_z_2
will cause _b_z_i_p_2 to decompress all  files  in  your  current
working  soundfile  directory that have been previously com
pressed with _b_z_i_p_2.

To display a list of additional command options type:
     _g_z_i_p  _-_h   or _b_z_i_p_2  _-_h
For full details, consult the _m_a_n page for _g_z_i_p or _b_z_p_2.

LLiinnuuxx  oonnllyy::  aappppllyyiinngg  ttaarr  aanndd   ccoommpprreessssiioonn//uunnccoommpprreessssiioonn
ssiimmuullttaanneeoouussllyy

The version of _t_a_r on our SGI systems  requires that _t_a_r and
_g_z_i_p or _b_z_i_p_2 compression/uncompression be performed as sep
arate  processes. This is possible on Linux systems as well.
However, since _t_a_r_-_a_n_d_-_c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s_/_u_n_c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s procedures are so
common,  the GNU/Linux version of _t_a_r enables us to consoli
date these two processes in a single operation, by including
the  flag  _z (or _-_-_g_z_i_p) for gzip compression/uncompression,
or else the flag _I (or _-_-_b_z_i_p_2) for gzip  compression/uncom
pression, while executing other _t_a_r commands.

Example:
   _t_a_r_s_f   _c_z_v_f  _B_._t_g_z  _B_* _b_*  or else _t_a_r_s_f  _-_-_c_r_e_a_t_e _-_-_z_i_p
_-_-_v_e_r_b_o_s_e  _-_-_f_i_l_e _B_._t_g_z  _B_* _b_*
Result: All soundfiles (hopefully  already  compressed  with
_s_h_o_r_t_e_n)  within  our  current  working  soundfile directory
whose names begin either with a capital or  lower  case  "B"
are written to a _t_a_r archive file named _B_._t_g_z, which is com
pressed with _g_z_i_p.
Later, to view the names of the files within  this  archive,
we can type:
     _t_a_r_s_f _t_z_f  _B_._t_g_z  or else    _t_a_r_s_f _-_-_l_i_s_t _-_-_g_z_i_p _-_-_f_i_l_e
_B_._t_g_z
(Note that we have omitted the common "verbose"  flag  here,
since we only want to list the -n-a-m-e-s-of the files within the
archive, rather than to obtain a "verbose" listing  of  each
of these files.)

Later,  to extract two of the soundfiles in this archive, we
could type:
  _t_a_r_s_f  _x_z_v_f  _B_._t_g_z   _b_2_v_l_n_._s_h_n    _b_2_t_u_b_a_._s_h_n   or    _t_a_r_s_f
_-_-_e_x_t_r_a_c_t   _-_-_g_z_i_p   _-_-_v_e_r_b_o_s_e   _-_-_f_i_l_e    _B_._t_g_z   _b_2_v_l_n_._s_h_n
_b_2_t_u_b_a_._s_h_n
This will extract the soundfiles _b_2_v_l_n_._s_h_n  and   _b_2_t_u_b_a_._s_h_n
from  the archive. From the _._s_h_n extension on these two file
names we can  tell  that  they  have  been  compressed  with
_s_h_o_r_t_e_n, so to restore them to a usable state, we then would
type
     _r_u_n_s_f_u_n_c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s _b_1_v_l_n  _b_1_t_u_b_a

