File separators of Path name of ZipEntry?

Question

ZIP entries store the full path name of the entry because (I'm sure of the next part) the ZIP archive is not organized as directories. The metadata contains the info about how files are supposed to be stored (inside directories).

If I create a ZIP file in Windows, when I unzip the data in another OS, e.g. Mac OS X, the file structure remains as it used to be in Windows. Is this because the unzipper is designed to handle this, or isit because the file separators inside the ZIP are standard?

I'm asking this because I'm trying to find an entry inside a ZIP file using the name of the zipped file. But which file separator should I use to make it work in systems other than Windows?

I'm using Java, and the method: .getName() of the ZipEntry gives me the path using the Windows file separator \. Would it be enough if I use the java File.separator separator to make it work on another OS? Or will I have to try to find my file with each possible separator?

Honorary Correct Answer Mention

The answer given by @Eren Yilmaz is correct describing the functionality of many tools (or even the one you can code yourself). But given that the .zip standard clearly documents how it must be, the correct answer had to be updated

Flora

so when you unzip you dont want unzip file with absolute path ? – Ocko

no, the problem is, while i search for the file, how should I set the file separators in my path in order to make it work no matter whar OS is the plataform for my application... – Flora

Answer 1

The .zip file specification states:

4.4.17.1 The name of the file, with optional relative path. The path stored MUST not contain a drive or device letter, or a leading slash. All slashes MUST be forward slashes '/' as opposed to backwards slashes '\' for compatibility with Amiga and UNIX file systems etc. If input came from standard input, there is no file name field.

Rounding

Now you are the owner of the correct answer title given the citation of the documentation – Flora

Answer 2

The file separator is dependent on the application that creates the zip file. Some applications use the system file separator, whereas some use the "civilized" forward slash "/". So, if you are creating the zip file and then consuming it, then you can simply use a forward slash as file separator. If the zip file is created on somewhere else, then you should find out which separator was used. I don't know a simple way, but you can use a brute method and check out both separator types as you progress.

Some applications, especially custom zip creation codes, can mix the separators on different zip entries, so don't forget to check out each entry.

Meistersinger

If all applications were following the specifications to the word, there would be no stackoverflow. At the time of the answer (2013), I was getting mixed file separators in zip files. I'm not coding on zip files any more, hope all apps found the true path nowadays. – Meistersinger