Unzip a zip file remotely - possible?

Is it possible to unzip a file on my web server?

My problem is this: I want to upload a directory which contains thousands of subdirectories. Using FTP takes forever - as a MKDIR command has to be run for each subdirectory before the actual datafiles are uploaded.

I've thought of a possible solution - just don't know how to actually do it (or if it is even possible):

1. zip the entire directory on my local machine,

2. upload the, one, zipped file,

3. unzip the uploaded file on my web server.

I can do steps 1 and 2 easily enough. Any idea how I can do step 3 (unzip the file on the web server)?

Thanks.

Can you ssh or telnet in to your server?

Hi Simon,

Yes, I have SSH/telnet access to the server.

Thanks for any help that you can give me.

Ok - so ftp the zip file (or use SSH's SCP function: scp file.zip user@webhost:~ ) to the webhost, then ssh (ssh username@webhost) then unzip file.zip wherever your website local directory is (something like htdocs or wwwroot - ask your host if you're not sure), and then clean up (rm file.zip). Then hit ctrl D a few times to log off and it should be ready to go.

Thanks again Simon. All subdirectories are now on the server. It took me 3 days to get half way through the list using FTP - and just a few minutes via SSH.

A thousand thank yous.

Not a problem

If you do NOT have SSH or TELNET access (as most hosts don't provide it for security reasons) you may try ZipDeploy, that does the job automatically. Download it from zipdeploy.merge-images.com