zip

Create ZIP archives

low risk

interactive breakdown — edit the command and press Explain
$ 
⚠ Risks & cautions
What it does

Packs files into a .zip archive (portable to Windows/macOS).

Common flags
FlagMeaning
-rRecurse into directories
-eEncrypt with a password (weak legacy encryption)
-xExclude patterns
-9Best compression
Examples
zip -r site.zip public/Zip a directory · explain & risk-check →
zip -r backup.zip . -x "*.git*"Zip while excluding .git · explain & risk-check →
Related
unzip tar gzip
Open the full explainer →More in Files & Archives

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