Archive Tool

A powerful command-line utility written in Go to archive all files in the current directory to a .zip file with CLI confirmation, progress tracking, and optional cleanup.

Features

✅ Recursively archives entire directory structure to ZIP format
✅ Interactive CLI confirmation before archiving
✅ Real-time progress bars for archiving and deletion
✅ Auto-generates timestamped archive names
✅ Customizable output filename (-o, --output)
✅ Support for excluding file/folder patterns (-e, --exclude)
✅ Dual compression modes: Fast (default) or Best compression
✅ Optional file deletion after archiving to free up space (-d, --delete)
✅ Automatic empty directory cleanup after deletion
✅ Empty directory detection - prevents archiving empty folders
✅ Comprehensive help documentation (-h, --help)
✅ Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux)
✅ No external dependencies - pure Go standard library

Installation

Download Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

Available binaries:

archive-windows-amd64.exe - Windows (64-bit)
archive-windows-arm64.exe - Windows (ARM)
archive-linux-amd64 - Linux (64-bit)
archive-linux-arm64 - Linux (ARM)
archive-darwin-amd64 - macOS (Intel)
archive-darwin-arm64 - macOS (Apple Silicon)

Rename the downloaded binary to archive (or archive.exe on Windows) and add it to your PATH.

Build from Source

Prerequisites: Go 1.26 or later

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ThanhTNV/archive-tool.git
cd archive-tool

# Run tests
go test ./...

# Build the executable
go build -o archive.exe

Add to PATH (Optional)

Copy archive.exe to a directory in your PATH (e.g., C:\Program Files\ArchiveTool\)
Or add the project directory to your PATH

Usage

Basic Usage

archive.exe

This will create an archive named archive_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.zip in the current directory with all files and subdirectories.

Custom Output Filename

archive.exe -o myarchive.zip
archive.exe --output myarchive.zip

Exclude Patterns

archive.exe -e ".git,.exe,node_modules"
archive.exe --exclude ".git,.exe,node_modules"

This will exclude files/directories matching .git, .exe, or node_modules.

Delete Files After Archiving

archive.exe -d
archive.exe --delete

This will delete original files and clean up empty subdirectories after successful archiving to free up space. You'll be asked for confirmation before deletion.

Compression Modes

# Fast compression (default) - Speed-optimized, faster but larger files
archive.exe -o backup.zip
archive.exe --compress fast

# Best compression - Size-optimized, slower but smaller archive files
archive.exe --compress best -o backup.zip
archive.exe -c best -o myfiles.zip

Compression Mode Comparison:

fast (default): Uses no compression (Store method), fastest archiving speed
best: Uses DEFLATE compression, produces smaller archives but slower

Combined Examples

# Archive with custom name and exclude patterns
archive.exe -o backup.zip -e ".git,.DS_Store,__pycache__"

# Archive with custom name and delete original files
archive.exe --output backup.zip -d

# Archive with best compression (smaller file, slower)
archive.exe -c best -o backup.zip

# Archive with all options combined
archive.exe --output final_backup.zip --exclude ".git,.env" --compress best --delete

Show Help

archive.exe -h
archive.exe --help

How It Works

Validates Directory - Checks if the directory has files to archive
Displays Summary - Shows the current directory, output filename, compression level, and options
Requests Confirmation - Asks user to confirm before proceeding
Scans Directory - Recursively counts all files to display accurate progress
Creates Archive - Archives all files and subdirectories with real-time progress bar
Optional Cleanup - If delete flag is set, asks for confirmation then deletes original files and cleans up empty subdirectories
Reports Results - Shows final statistics and success message

Command-Line Flags

Flag	Description	Default
`-h`, `--help`	Show help message and exit	N/A
`-o`, `--output`	Output zip filename	`archive_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.zip`
`-e`, `--exclude`	Comma-separated exclusion patterns	(none)
`-c`, `--compress`	Compression level: `fast` or `best`	`fast`
`-d`, `--delete`	Delete original files and empty dirs	(disabled)

Progress Bars

The tool displays real-time progress bars for both archiving and deletion:

Archiving files:
[=============================>          ] 10/15 (67%)

Deleting files:
[=============================>          ] 10/15 (67%)

Progress bars show:

Visual progress indicator
Current file count and total files
Percentage completion

Compression Modes

Fast Mode (Default)

Method: Store (no compression)
Speed: Very fast
File size: Larger (original sizes)
Use case: Quick backups, already compressed files (images, videos, zips)
Example: archive.exe -o backup.zip or archive.exe -c fast

Best Mode

Method: DEFLATE compression algorithm
Speed: Slower than fast mode
File size: Smaller (can reduce by 50-90% for text files)
Use case: Maximum space savings, archiving source code, documents
Example: archive.exe --compress best -o backup.zip

Performance Comparison:

Fast mode: Ideal for speed - archives complete quickly
Best mode: Ideal for size - produces compact archives but takes longer

Choose based on your priorities:

Need speed? Use fast (default)
Need smaller files? Use best

Example Workflow

Fast Compression (Default)

C:\MyProject> archive.exe -o project_backup.zip
Archive Tool
Current directory: C:\MyProject

Archive Summary:
  Source directory: C:\MyProject
  Output file: project_backup.zip
  Compression level: fast

Do you want to proceed? (yes/no): yes

Scanning directory...
Found 42 files to archive

Archiving files:
[========================================] 42/42 (100%)

✓ Files archived: 42
✓ Archive created successfully: project_backup.zip

Best Compression (Smaller File Size)

C:\MyProject> archive.exe -o project_backup.zip --compress best
Archive Tool
Current directory: C:\MyProject

Archive Summary:
  Source directory: C:\MyProject
  Output file: project_backup.zip
  Compression level: best

Do you want to proceed? (yes/no): yes

Scanning directory...
Found 42 files to archive

Archiving files:
[========================================] 42/42 (100%)

✓ Files archived: 42
✓ Archive created successfully: project_backup.zip

With Delete (Full Cleanup)

C:\MyProject> archive.exe -o backup.zip -d
Archive Tool
Current directory: C:\MyProject

Archive Summary:
  Source directory: C:\MyProject
  Output file: backup.zip
  Compression level: fast
  ⚠️  Delete mode: ON (files will be deleted after archiving)

Do you want to proceed? (yes/no): yes

Scanning directory...
Found 35 files to archive

Archiving files:
[========================================] 35/35 (100%)

✓ Files archived: 35
✓ Archive created successfully: backup.zip

⚠️  WARNING: Delete original files permanently? (yes/no): yes

Deleting files:
[========================================] 35/35 (100%)
✓ Files deleted: 35
✓ Empty directories removed: 8
✓ Cleanup completed successfully!

Empty Directory

C:\EmptyFolder> archive.exe
Archive Tool
Current directory: C:\EmptyFolder

❌ Directory is empty! No files to archive.

Safety Features

✅ Two-level confirmation (archive + delete separately)
✅ Excluded files and directories are NOT deleted even with --delete flag
✅ Archive file itself is NOT included in the archive
✅ Empty directory detection prevents unnecessary operations
✅ Automatic empty directory cleanup after file deletion
✅ Warning messages for destructive operations
✅ Graceful error handling with informative messages

Notes

Recursively archives all files and subdirectories (uses filepath.Walk)
Complete directory structure is fully preserved in the ZIP file
With --delete, files are deleted first, then empty subdirectories are cleaned up (bottom-up)
Excluded files and directories will NOT be deleted even with --delete flag
The tool respects the same exclusion patterns during both archiving and deletion
Only operates on the current working directory (not recursive from parent directories)

Development

Running Tests

go test -v ./...

Creating a New Release

Push a version tag to trigger the release pipeline:

git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0

The CI/CD pipeline will:

Run all tests
Build binaries for Windows, Linux, and macOS (amd64 + arm64)
Create a GitHub Release with all binaries and SHA-256 checksums

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 5 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md
go.mod		go.mod
main.go		main.go
main_test.go		main_test.go

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

Archive Tool

Features

Installation

Download Pre-built Binaries

Build from Source

Add to PATH (Optional)

Usage

Basic Usage

Custom Output Filename

Exclude Patterns

Delete Files After Archiving

Compression Modes

Combined Examples

Show Help

How It Works

Command-Line Flags

Progress Bars

Compression Modes

Fast Mode (Default)

Best Mode

Example Workflow

Fast Compression (Default)

Best Compression (Smaller File Size)

With Delete (Full Cleanup)

Empty Directory

Safety Features

Notes

Development

Running Tests

Creating a New Release

License

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