Compressing files

In this recipe, we will use the Compress-Archive cmdlet to compress or ZIP some files.

How to do it...

The following steps walk you through compressing files using PowerShell:

1. Open PowerShell ISE as an administrator.
2. Add the following script and run it:

   #replace the variable values with your
   #folder and destination file values
   
   #search for file with specific extension
   $folderToCompress = "C:\Temp\MyFiles"
   $destinationFile = $folderToCompress + ".zip"
   
   Compress-Archive -Path $folderToCompressfolderToCompress –DestinationPath $destinationFile –CompressionLevel Fastest -Update

How it works...

PowerShell V5 introduces a new cmdlet that compresses files. Compress-Archive is an elegant way to archive or ZIP files. It accepts a folder or list of files to be zipped and the destination file. If you want to specify multiple files, you need to list them separated by a comma:

Compress-Archive -LiteralPath C:\Data\Resume.docx, C:\MyFiles\CoverLetter.pdf &...