Before we leave this section, let me give you an example of how to create a compressed file. In the source code of the book, I have two examples: one creates a ZIP file, while the other one creates a tar.gz file. Python allows you to create compressed files in several different ways and formats. Here, I am going to show you how to create the most common one, ZIP:

# files/compression/zip.py
from zipfile import ZipFile

with ZipFile('example.zip', 'w') as zp:
    zp.write('content1.txt')
    zp.write('content2.txt')
    zp.write('subfolder/content3.txt')
    zp.write('subfolder/content4.txt')

with ZipFile('example.zip') as zp:
    zp.extract('content1.txt', 'extract_zip')
    zp.extract('subfolder/content3.txt', 'extract_zip')

In the preceding code, we import ZipFile, and then, within a context manager, we write into it four dummy context files (two of which are in a sub-folder, to show ZIP preserves the full path). Afterwards, as an example, we open the compressed file and extract a couple of files from it, into the extract_zip directory. If you are interested in learning more about data compression, make sure you check out the Data Compression and Archiving section on the standard library (https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/archiving.html), where you'll be able to learn all about this topic.