unzip: Usage, Options & Common CI Errors

unzip extracts files from a .zip archive into the current or a chosen directory.

unzip is the counterpart to zip. In CI its biggest trap is the interactive overwrite prompt, which silently hangs a non-interactive job until it times out.

What it does

unzip lists, tests, and extracts files from ZIP archives. By default it prompts before overwriting existing files, which is a problem in non-interactive pipelines.

Common usage

Terminal

unzip archive.zip
unzip -o archive.zip            # overwrite without prompting
unzip -d /target archive.zip    # extract into a directory
unzip -l archive.zip            # list contents
unzip -q -o archive.zip         # quiet + overwrite

Options

Flag	What it does
-o	Overwrite existing files without prompting
-n	Never overwrite existing files
-d <dir>	Extract into a target directory
-q	Quiet
-l / -t	List / test archive integrity

Common errors in CI

Without -o, unzip stops at "replace X? [y]es, [n]o, [A]ll" and the job hangs until timeout - always pass -o or -n in scripts. "End-of-central-directory signature not found … not a zipfile, or … part of a multi-part archive" means the file is truncated or not a real zip (often a failed/partial download). Exit 9 = no matching files; exit 1 = a warning (e.g. one file failed) but extraction otherwise succeeded.

Related guides

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