How can I install 7zip so I can run it from Terminal on OS X

Question

I would like to be able to run 7zip from the command line on Mac. Does anyone have instructions on how to set this up?

Troy Harvey · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-30T13:11:05.027

436

To install p7zip using Homebrew, first update your brew formulae to be sure you are getting the latest p7zip.

$ brew update

Use Homebrew to install p7zip:

$ brew install p7zip

Add all files in the sputnik directory to the compressed file heed.7z:

$ 7z a heed.7z sputnik

Unzip heed.7z:

$ 7z x heed.7z

edited Oct 30 '13 at 13:11

answered Oct 29 '13 at 20:26

Troy Harvey

4,478
2
13
6

12

same for macports: `sudo port install p7zip` no problem – Alan Blount Aug 23 '14 at 02:39
1

@AlanBlount thanks for adding instructions for MacPorts. – Troy Harvey Sep 10 '14 at 20:49
On a tangent, my brew update required sudo, is that ok or not? How can I change its behavior in this case to run without sudo? – pal4life Sep 25 '14 at 20:37
1

@pal4life Check the permissions on your [Cellar directory](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9800527/homebrew-install-permissions-issue). – Troy Harvey Oct 19 '14 at 20:38
What is sputnik? and what is heed? – Maciek Semik May 14 '16 at 05:43
1

@MaciekSemik Example file names. – Sridhar Katakam Mar 14 '17 at 10:10
@MaciekSemik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-OCjvbV2Z4 – Troy Harvey Aug 22 '17 at 20:24
4

I had to come here to find out that the command isn't p7zip, it is 7z... – MikeP Dec 10 '17 at 00:52
1

i would have a better chance of destroying the entire universe by accident than stumbling upon the correct syntax – Zigster Mar 20 '18 at 23:16
@MikeP I didn't even realize until I read your comment...! – Valdimar Jun 22 '18 at 19:26
Now I only need to figure out how to extract to a sub-folder... – n1000 Jan 14 '19 at 11:59

score 44 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 08 '13 at 10:49

On the download page of 7-zip, there are several options for OS X. Unfortunately, they seem to be with a GUI, or not available at the moment.

You can download p7zip though.

p7zip is the command line version of 7-Zip for Unix/Linux, made by an independent developer

It is distributed as Linux binaries and in source code form on Sourceforge.

Download the source code, and run make in the folder you extract the archive to. It will automatically build 7za for your OS. You might need Xcode and its command line tools for this to work.

$ cd Downloads/p7zip_9.20.1
$ make
[...]
$ cd bin
$ ls
7za
$ ./7za 

7-Zip (A) [64] 9.20  Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov  2010-11-18
p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=de_DE.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,4 CPUs)

Usage: 7za <command> [<switches>...] <archive_name> [<file_names>...]
       [<@listfiles...>]

<Commands>
  a: Add files to archive
  b: Benchmark
  d: Delete files from archive
  e: Extract files from archive (without using directory names)
  l: List contents of archive
  t: Test integrity of archive
  u: Update files to archive
  x: eXtract files with full paths
<Switches>
  -ai[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: Include archives
  -ax[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: eXclude archives
  -bd: Disable percentage indicator
  -i[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: Include filenames
  -m{Parameters}: set compression Method
  -o{Directory}: set Output directory
  -p{Password}: set Password
  -r[-|0]: Recurse subdirectories
  -scs{UTF-8 | WIN | DOS}: set charset for list files
  -sfx[{name}]: Create SFX archive
  -si[{name}]: read data from stdin
  -slt: show technical information for l (List) command
  -so: write data to stdout
  -ssc[-]: set sensitive case mode
  -t{Type}: Set type of archive
  -u[-][p#][q#][r#][x#][y#][z#][!newArchiveName]: Update options
  -v{Size}[b|k|m|g]: Create volumes
  -w[{path}]: assign Work directory. Empty path means a temporary directory
  -x[r[-|0]]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: eXclude filenames
  -y: assume Yes on all queries

$ ./7za a 7za.7z 7za 

7-Zip (A) [64] 9.20  Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov  2010-11-18
p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=de_DE.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,4 CPUs)
Scanning

Creating archive 7za.7z

Compressing  7za      

Everything is Ok

$ ls
7za    7za.7z

Before "make" I had to issue command "cp makefile.macosx_64bits makefile.machine" — chrisinmtown, Mar 16 '15 at 16:47

score 19 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 08 '13 at 12:57

19

If you only need to extract archives, unar (a command line version of The Unarchiver) also supports 7zip.

answered Feb 08 '13 at 12:57

Lri

40,894
7
119
157

Thank you for introducing me to The Unarchiver. The GUI version works great on Mac too. – Huyen Dec 10 '22 at 23:28

Ariel Lubonja · Answer 4 · 2023-08-15T00:38:29.720

1

brew install sevenzip will install the package still maintained by the original developers (https://7-zip.org). It is at version 23.01 whereas p7zip doesn't seem to be maintained anymore (it's been at 17.xx for years)

To use, 7zz --help

edited Aug 15 '23 at 00:38

answered Aug 09 '23 at 23:32

Ariel Lubonja

53
5

How can I install 7zip so I can run it from Terminal on OS X

4 Answers4

Linked