7z How to pass password and avoid prompt?

In Linux, I am using 7z to decrypt a *.7z encrypted file. Is there a way to pass in the password via pipe or any other method that can be automated?

I tried echo password | 7z x archive.7z but still prompted me for password.

Solution 1:

7z How to pass password and avoid prompt?

Is there a way to pass in the password via pipe or any other method that can be automated?

Try running the extraction commands with a similar syntax as in the below example to see if it'll work for your need setting the password variable accordingly beforehand passing it in or however you'd normally do that with the logic you use in your scripts, etc.

Be sure the password or variable value for it is directly after the -p switch with no spaces after -p.

Implicit Path Extraction with Password Variable

password="<password>"; 7z.exe x -p$password "archive.7z"

Explicit Path Extraction with Password Variable

password="<password>"; 7z.exe -e -p$password "<ArchivePath>\archive.7z" -o"<ExtractPath>"

7Z Help Source

7z.exe --help

7-Zip [64] 16.02 : Copyright (c) 1999-2016 Igor Pavlov : 2016-05-21

Usage: 7z <command> [<switches>...] <archive_name> [<file_names>...]
       [<@listfiles...>]

<Commands>
  a : Add files to archive
  b : Benchmark
  d : Delete files from archive
  e : Extract files from archive (without using directory names)
  h : Calculate hash values for files
  i : Show information about supported formats
  l : List contents of archive
  rn : Rename files in archive
  t : Test integrity of archive
  u : Update files to archive
  x : eXtract files with full paths

<Switches>
  -- : Stop switches parsing
  -ai[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard} : Include archives
  -ax[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard} : eXclude archives
  -ao{a|s|t|u} : set Overwrite mode
  -an : disable archive_name field
  -bb[0-3] : set output log level
  -bd : disable progress indicator
  -bs{o|e|p}{0|1|2} : set output stream for output/error/progress line
  -bt : show execution time statistics
  -i[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard} : Include filenames
  -m{Parameters} : set compression Method
    -mmt[N] : set number of CPU threads
  -o{Directory} : set Output directory
  -p{Password} : set Password
  -r[-|0] : Recurse subdirectories
  -sa{a|e|s} : set Archive name mode
  -scc{UTF-8|WIN|DOS} : set charset for for console input/output
  -scs{UTF-8|UTF-16LE|UTF-16BE|WIN|DOS|{id}} : set charset for list files
  -scrc[CRC32|CRC64|SHA1|SHA256|*] : set hash function for x, e, h commands
  -sdel : delete files after compression
  -seml[.] : send archive by email
  -sfx[{name}] : Create SFX archive
  -si[{name}] : read data from stdin
  -slp : set Large Pages mode
  -slt : show technical information for l (List) command
  -snh : store hard links as links
  -snl : store symbolic links as links
  -sni : store NT security information
  -sns[-] : store NTFS alternate streams
  -so : write data to stdout
  -spd : disable wildcard matching for file names
  -spe : eliminate duplication of root folder for extract command
  -spf : use fully qualified file paths
  -ssc[-] : set sensitive case mode
  -ssw : compress shared files
  -stl : set archive timestamp from the most recently modified file
  -stm{HexMask} : set CPU thread affinity mask (hexadecimal number)
  -stx{Type} : exclude archive type
  -t{Type} : Set type of archive
  -u[-][p#][q#][r#][x#][y#][z#][!newArchiveName] : Update options
  -v{Size}[b|k|m|g] : Create volumes
  -w[{path}] : assign Work directory. Empty path means a temporary directory
  -x[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard} : eXclude filenames
  -y : assume Yes on all queries

Solution 2:

The -p option is somewhat more secure than you'd expect. When 7zip first runs, if it detects the -p option, it will copy that value somewhere else, and it will overwrite the value that is visible in the process tree. So if you did "ps -aux", you might see "/usr/bin/7za -p******* x arch.7z" instead of the actual password after -p. At least this is the way it works on Linux- and you can configure the kernel such that process trees are invisible to normal users.