Archive Support

checkle can hash files within archives without extracting them.

Supported Formats

TAR Archives

.tar - Uncompressed
.tar.gz / .tgz - Gzip compressed
.tar.bz2 - Bzip2 compressed
.tar.xz - XZ compressed

ZIP Archives

.zip - Various compression methods

Basic Usage

Hash Specific File in Archive

checkle hash archive.tar:path/to/file.txt

Hash All Files in Archive

checkle hash archive.tar.gz:*

Hash Files Matching Pattern

checkle hash data.zip:*.csv
checkle hash backup.tar:logs/*.log

Archive Path Syntax

Use colon (:) to separate archive from internal path:

archive_path:internal_path

Examples:

# Specific file
data.tar.gz:results/output.txt

# All files
data.tar.gz:*

# Pattern matching
data.zip:*.fastq
data.tar:experiments/*/results.csv

Pattern Matching

Wildcards

* - Match any characters (except /)
** - Match any characters (including /)
? - Match single character

Examples

# All CSV files in root
checkle hash archive.zip:*.csv

# All files in subdirectory
checkle hash archive.tar:data/*

# Recursive pattern
checkle hash archive.tar.gz:**/*.txt

Performance

Streaming Processing

Files processed without full extraction
Memory usage bounded
Decompression on-the-fly

Limitations

Sequential access within archives
Cannot parallelize individual archive entries
Compressed archives require decompression

Examples

Genomics Data

# Hash FASTQ files in compressed archive
checkle hash sequencing_run.tar.gz:*.fastq

# Verify specific sample
checkle verify reads.tar.gz:sample_001.fastq --hash abc123

Backup Verification

# Hash all files in backup
checkle hash backup.tar.gz:* -o backup_checksums.txt

# Verify backup integrity later
checkle verify-many --checksum-file backup_checksums.txt

Data Transfer

# Before transfer - hash archive contents
checkle hash data.tar.gz:* > checksums_before.txt

# After transfer - verify integrity
checkle hash data.tar.gz:* > checksums_after.txt
diff checksums_before.txt checksums_after.txt

Archive vs Regular File

Without colon - hash the archive itself

checkle hash archive.tar.gz
# Output: abc123def456  archive.tar.gz

With colon - hash contents

checkle hash archive.tar.gz:file.txt
# Output: 789xyz012  archive.tar.gz:file.txt

Compressed Archives

Compression is handled transparently:

# All work the same way
checkle hash data.tar:file.txt      # Uncompressed
checkle hash data.tar.gz:file.txt   # Gzip
checkle hash data.tar.bz2:file.txt  # Bzip2
checkle hash data.tar.xz:file.txt   # XZ

Verification

Single File in Archive

checkle verify archive.tar:important.dat --hash e3b0c44298fc1c14

Multiple Files

Create checksum file:

checkle hash archive.tar:* -o archive_checksums.txt

Verify later:

checkle verify-many --checksum-file archive_checksums.txt

Tips

Use patterns to hash multiple files - More efficient than individual commands
Save checksums for archives - Verify integrity without re-reading
Compressed archives are slower - Decompression adds overhead
Large archives work fine - Streaming prevents memory issues
Archive path must exist - Archive file itself must be accessible

Checkle Documentation