How to create zip file from command line

This would be useful if you have a list of files name (with their path) to be zipped but these files are present across multiple folders. By adding one file at a time from user interface, it would take a lot of time. Think if you have to create this file again if any error occur.

Winzip has a command line utility for this but requires 12.x version or above. I used WinRar, created a .rar file from command line and then created a zip file from that. Of course there would be other ways of achieving it and some might feel this as an overhead but this was the best for my current machine without having to install any new software.

Steps to do

1. Save the name of files (with their path) to be zipped into a text file and save it as files.lst or any other name. If you want to give relative path rather than absolute path, just make sure that in such case, this file is present at the root of your relative path.
2. From command prompt, go to relative path's root folder and run rar a backup @files.lst where backup is name of generated rar file. If you get error, perhaps WinRar is not in your Path. In such case run "C:\Program Files\WinRAR\rar" a backup @files.lst
3. For list of other options you can refer to "Console Rar Manual" file that is located in your Start menu itself under WinRAR group.
4. Once you have taken out your required files into a rar file, you can use any format like 7z or zip etc. to store these files.