How to update one file in a zip archive

Question

Is it possible to replace a file in a zip file without unzipping deleting the old file adding the new file and rezipping it back?

Reason is I have a zip file which i

Answer 1

Use the update flag: -u

Example:

zip -ur existing.zip myFolder

This command will compress and add myFolder (and it's contents) to the existing.zip.

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Advanced Usage:

The update flag actually compares the incoming files against the existing ones and will either add new files, or update existing ones.

Therefore, if you want to add/update a specific subdirectory within the zip file, just update the source as desired, and then re-zip the entire source with the -u flag. Only the changed files will be zipped.

If you don't have access to the source files, you can unzip the zip file, then update the desired files, and then re-zip with the -u flag. Again, only the changed files will be zipped.

Example:

Original Source Structure

ParentDir
├── file1.txt
├── file2.txt
├── ChildDir
│   ├── file3.txt
│   ├── Logs
│   │   ├── logs1.txt
│   │   ├── logs2.txt
│   │   ├── logs3.txt

Updated Source Structure

ParentDir
├── file1.txt
├── file2.txt
├── ChildDir
│   ├── file3.txt
│   ├── Logs
│   │   ├── logs1.txt
│   │   ├── logs2.txt
│   │   ├── logs3.txt 
│   │   ├── logs4.txt <-- NEW FILE 

Usage

$ zip -ur existing.zip ParentDir 
> updating: ParentDir/ChildDir/Logs (stored 0%)
>   adding: ParentDir/ChildDir/Logs/logs4.txt (stored 96%)