Batch extract zip files with PowerShell

Use this simple PowerShell script to batch unzip large numbers of files at once.

Various pieces of computerised scientific equipment that I use generate large volumes of zip files which I have to unzip manually. Rather that suffer this tedium, I prefer to employ a PowerShell script that will:

• Open each zip file
• Create a new directory based on the name of the zip file
• Extract the contents of the zip file to the new directory
• Repeat the process for all zip files in all subdirectories (optional)

The following instructions describe the process:

Install 7za

The PowerShell script relies upon a third-party script called 7-Zip, which can be downloaded for free from Sourceforge. Unzip the files and install 7za.exe to a known location on your Windows machine. Note the location.

Amend PowerShell script variables

There are two variables that need to be modified for the PowerShell script to run:

• $path = The file path that contains the target zip files
• $7za = The file path that points to 7za.exe

Amend the $path and $7za variables within the following code:

$path ="c:\path\to\your\files\*.zip" #location of zip files
$7za ="c:\path\to\7za.exe" #location of 7za 

$ZipFileList = Get-ChildItem -Path ($path) -Recurse;

foreach ($ZipFile in $ZipFileList) {
    mkdir -Path ('{0}\{1}' -f $ZipFile.Directory, $ZipFile.BaseName);
    $ArgumentList = 'x "{0}" -o"{1}\{2}\"' -f $ZipFile.FullName, $ZipFile.Directory, $ZipFile.BaseName;
    Start-Process -FilePath ($7za) -ArgumentList $ArgumentList -Wait;
}

Execute the script in PowerShell and the files will be unzipped.

Another option

If you don’t want PowerShell to conduct a recursive search within the target folder, delete -Recurse from the script.

Credit

This script is based on the work of Trevor Sullivan.

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