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I am trying to unzip a 7zip file from the command line like this, but I get an error with using e or x parameters. The file has only 1 .dat file inside. I get the following error.

valugi@valugi-desktop:/$ 7z x /var/www/site/data/7zip/eu/
Processing archive: /var/www/site/data/7zip/eu/file.7z
can not open output file file.dat
Skipping    file.dat

Sub items Errors: 1

I can open the file if I am opening it with the File Roller desktop application, but I want to use the command line, as I want to integrate this into a PHP script.

How can I find out what is generating this error and how can I fix it?


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2 Answers 2

up vote 1 down vote accepted

The key is here:


You are on the root directory, you will need superuser privileges to write to var.

Just try:

sudo 7z x /var/www/site/data/7zip/eu/

Or,if the script is going to be called by another user.

sudo -u username 7z x /var/www/site/data/7zip/eu/
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I think you are right. I will not do sudo as my script gets executed by www-data and I think this user is allowed there.. thanks –  Elzo Valugi Nov 23 '10 at 14:24
sudo -u www-data 7z... will let you test it them. –  Javier Rivera Nov 23 '10 at 15:14

The part about "can not open output file" suggests writing the target file is a problem.

  1. Check that you have sufficient space in the output directory to take the unzipped file.
  2. Confirm compressed file integrity with "7z t /var/www/site/data/7zip/eu/file.7z"
    • this second point is probably just for your confirmation.
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yes. I guess is the user group or the file permissions that I have to change. thanks –  Elzo Valugi Nov 23 '10 at 14:08

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