gunzip

Decompress gzip files

low risk

interactive breakdown — edit the command and press Explain

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⚠ Risks & cautions

Without -k the original .gz is deleted — keep it if the source copy is your only backup.

What it does

Equivalent to gzip -d; removes the .gz after decompressing unless -k is used.

Common flags

Flag	Meaning
`-k`	Keep the compressed file
`-c`	Write to stdout
`-t`	Test integrity

Examples

gunzip -k file.gzDecompress and keep the original · explain & risk-check →

gunzip -c file.gz | headPeek without writing a file · explain & risk-check →

Related

Open the full explainer →More in Files & Archives

Reference text is hand-written and may be incomplete — check man gunzip for your version. Test destructive commands on a non-production system first.