Extract Without Subdirectories in 7-Zip CLI

This guide explains how to extract files from an archive directly into a single folder without preserving or creating the internal subdirectories using the 7-Zip Command Line Interface (CLI). By using the extraction (e) command instead of the standard extract-with-paths (x) command, you can flatten the entire directory structure of any supported archive format.

The Basic Command

To extract all files into the current working directory while stripping away the internal folder paths, use the e command:

7z e archive.zip

Unlike 7z x, which recreates the directory tree stored inside the archive, 7z e extracts every file into the root of your target directory.

Extracting to a Specific Directory

To extract the files without subdirectories into a target location other than your current working directory, use the -o switch.

Important: Do not put a space between the -o switch and the target directory path.

7z e archive.zip -o"C:\DestinationFolder"

On Linux or macOS:

7z e archive.tar.gz -o/path/to/destination

Handling Duplicate File Names

Because flattening an archive places files from different subfolders into the same destination, filename collisions can occur. You can control how 7-Zip handles duplicate file names using the -ao (Overwrite Mode) switch:

• Overwrite all existing files:

  7z e archive.zip -o"C:\DestinationFolder" -aoa

• Skip extracting existing files:

  7z e archive.zip -o"C:\DestinationFolder" -aos

• Automatically rename extracted files (e.g., file_1.txt):

  7z e archive.zip -o"C:\DestinationFolder" -aou

Complete Example

To extract an archive named data.zip to a folder named output, ignore all internal folders, and automatically rename any conflicting files, run:

7z e data.zip -ooutput -aou