NAME

       zst - compress or decompress .zst/.bz2/.gz/.xz files

SYNOPSIS

       zst [options] files...

DESCRIPTION

       The zst command can reduce the size of files by using a number of popular compression algorithms; in this
       version these are zstd, bzip2, xz, gzip -- and decompress them back.

       While  these compressors' native tools may expose more options specific to the algorithm in question, zst
       unifies them with common functionality.  Eg, only gzip and zstd can recurse with -r, zstd defaults to  -k
       and its levels go up to 19 rather than 9, etc.

       The  default  compressor  is  zstd  as  it's  fastest while also compressing well; you may want to use xz
       instead when disk space / network bandwidth is at premium.  On the other hand, neither gzip nor bzip2 are
       a superior choice in any case but especially gzip is entrenched for historical reasons.

OPTIONS

       Mode of operation

       -z     Compress (default).  The file will be replaced by a compressed copy  with  an  appropriate  suffix
              added: .zst/.bz2/.xz/.gz according to the algorithm used.

       -d     Decompress.  Files without a known suffix will be left untouched.

       -t     Test  the  integrity of compressed files; this is functionally same as decompression redirected to
              /dev/null.

       Modifiers

       -c     Write compressed or decompressed data to standard output.  This implies -k.  For  compression,  if
              the stdout is a terminal, -f must be also specified.

       -k     The source file won't be removed after [de]compression.

       -f     Will  overwrite  existing  files.  Allows writing compressed data to a terminal.  When -c is given
              and the data is not in the  expected  format,  it  will  be  passed  through  unmodified.   Allows
              compressing a file that's already compressed.

       -r     If  a  directory  is  among  file  names  specified  on the command line, all files inside will be
              processed, possibly recursing into directories deeper in.

       -1..-9 Compression level: -1 is the weakest but fastest level the algorithm knows, -9  is  strongest  and
              slowest.   Note  that  unlike  the  zstd  tool,  the  scale  is 1..9 for all algorithms -- level 9
              corresponds to what zstd knows as 19.

              The defaults are: zst 2, bz2 9, gz 6, xz 6.

       -v     List all processed files.  When compressing, the old, new, and  percentage  of  required  size  is
              given.

       -q     Suppress all warnings.  Unrelated to -v.

       -n     Ignored; for compat with gzip.

       -F     Specify compression algorithm to use.

RETURN VALUE

       1 if any errors happened, 2 if there's a warning but no errors, 0 if all went ok.

SEE ALSO

       zstd(1), bzip2(1), gzip(1), xz(1).

                                                   2022-10-18                                             zst(1)