Archive files with compression.
Syntax
rar command [-switch_1 -switch_N] archive [files...]
A summary of commands is below. Every command/switch must be separated by whitespace.
Commands:
a Add files to archive.
c Add archive comment. Comment length is limited to 62000 bytes.
cf Add files comment. File comments are displayed when the ’v’
command is given. File comment length is limited to 32767 bytes.
cw Write archive comment to a specified file.
d Delete files from archive.
e Extract files to current directory. Does not create any
subdirectories.
f Freshen files in archive. Updates those files changed since they
were packed to the archive. This command will not add new to the
archive.
k Lock archive. Any command which intend to change the archive
will be ignored.
l[t] List content of archive [technical]. Files are listed as the ’v’
command with the exception of the file path. i.e. the file name
is displayed. Optional technical information displayed when ’t’
modifier is used.
m[f] Move to archive [files only]. Directories will not be removed if
’f’ modifier is used and/or ’-ed’ switch is applied.
p Print file to stdout.
r Repair archive. For further details look in rar.txt.
rc Reconstruct missing volumes using recovery volumes (.rev files).
You need to specify any existing volume as the archive name, for
example, ’rar rc backup.part03.rar’.
rr[N] Add data recovery record. Optionally, redundant information
(recovery record) can be added to an archive.
rv[N] Create recovery volumes (.rev files), which can be later used to
reconstruct missing files in a volume set. This command has sense
only for multivolume archives. For further details look in rar.txt
s[name|-]
Convert archive to or from SFX. The archive is merged with SFX-
module in the user’s home directory.
t Test archive files.
u Update files in archive. Adds files not already in the archive
and updates files changed since they were packed to the archive.
v[t] Verbosely list archive [technical]
x Extract files with full path.
Switches:
-ac Clear Archive attribute after compression or extraction (Windows
version only).
-ag[format]
Generate archive name using the current date and time. Appends
the current date string to an archive name when creating an
archive. Useful for daily backups. For further details look in
rar.txt.
-ao Add files with Archive attribute set (Windows version only).
-ap Set path inside archive. This path is merged to file names when
adding files to an archive and removed from file names when
extracting.
-as Synchronize archive contents. If this switch is used when
archiving, those archived files which are not present in the
list of the currently added files, will be deleted from archive.
It is convenient to use this switch in combination with -u
(update) to synchronize contents of an archive and an archiving
directory.
-av Put authenticity verification (registered versions only).
Details in register.txt.
-av- Disable AV checking or adding.
-cfg- Disable read configuration and environment.
-cl Convert file names to lower case.
-cu Convert file names to upper case.
-c- Disable comments show.
-df Delete files after archiving. This switch in combination with
the command "A" performs the same action as the command "M".
-dh Open shared files. Allows to process files opened by other
applications for writing.
-ds Do not sort files while adding to a solid archive.
-ed Do not add empty directories.
-ee Do not process extended attributes. Only for OS/2 versions.
-en Do not add "end of archive" block.
This switch cannot be used with volumes, because the end of
archive block contains information important for correct volume
processing.
-ep Exclude paths from names.
-ep1 Exclude base dir from names.
-ep2 Expand paths to full. Store full file paths (except a drive
letter and leading path separator) when archiving.
-eAttr
Specifies file exclude attributes mask.
-f Freshen files. Can be used with archive extraction or creation.
-hppassword
Encrypt both file data and headers. The password is case sensitive.
If you omit the password on the command line, you will be prompted
with message "Enter password".
-idp Disable percentage indicator.
-ieml[.][addr]
Send archive by email. Win32 version only.
-ierr Send all messages to stderr.
-ilog Log errors to file (registered versions only).
-inul Disable all messages.
-isnd Enable sound.
-k Lock archive. Any command which intends to change the archive
will be ignored.
-kb Keep broken extracted files.
-m 0..5
Set compression level (0-store...3-default...5-best). By default
rar uses -m3 method (Normal compression).
-mcpar
Set advanced compression parameters. For further details look
in rar.txt.
-mdsize
Set dictionary size in Kb (64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4097 or
a,b,c,d,e,f,g)
-ms[list]
Specify file types to store.
-o+ Overwrite existing files.
-o- Do not overwrite existing files.
-ol Save symbolic links as the link instead of the file.
-os Save NTFS streams. Win32 version only.
-ow Save file owner and group.
-ppassword
Encrypt files with the string password as password while
archiving. The password is case-sensitive. If you omit the
password on the command line, you will be prompted with message
"Enter password".
-p- Do not query password.
-r Recurse subdirectories.
-r0 Similar to -r, but when used with the commands ’a’, ’u’, ’f’,
-rip[:s]
Set priority and sleep time. Available only in RAR for Windows.
-rr[N] Add data recovery record.
-rv[N] Create recovery volumes.
-s Create solid archive.
-sN Create solid groups using file count. Similar to -s, but reset
solid statistics after compressing N files.
-se Create solid groups using extension. Similar to -s, but reset
solid statistics if file extension is changed.
-sv Create independent solid volumes. Similar to -s, but reset solid
statistics as soon as possible when starting a new volume.
-sv- Create dependent solid volumes. Similar to -s, but reset of
solid statistics is disabled.
-s- Disable solid archiving.
-sfx[name]
Create SFX archives. The archive is merged with SFX-module in
the user’s home directory.
-t Test files after archiving. This switch is especially useful in
combination with the move command, so files will be deleted only
if archive had been successfully tested.
-tk Keep original archive time. Prevents rar from modifying the
archive date when changing an archive.
-tl Set archive time to latest file. Forces rar to set the date of a
changed archive to the date of the newest file in the archive.
-u Update files.
-vsize[M|k|b|f]
Create volumes with size=size*1000 [*1024, *1].
-vd Erase disk contents before creating volume. All files and
directories on the target disk will be erased when ’-vd’ is
used. The switch applies only to removable media, the hard disk
cannot be erased using this switch.
-wpath
Assign work directory.
-xfile
Exclude specified file. Wildcards can be used and you may
specify the switch ’-x’ several times.
-x@list
Exclude files in specified list file.
-x@ Read file names to exclude from stdin.
-y Assume Yes on all queries.
-zfile
Read archive comment from file.
-? Display help on commands and switches. The same as when none or
an illegal command line option is entered.
-- This switch tells RAR that there are no more switches in the
command line. This can be useful if either archive or file name
starts from a ’-’ character. Using the ’--’ switch will ensure
that the name is not treated as switch.
For a complete description, run rar without options.
Examples
Create a new rar archive archive.rar containing file1.dat, file2.dat, file3.dat:
$ rar a archive.rar file1.dat file2.dat file3.dat
Create a new rar archive ss64.rar containing the directory music:
$ rar a ss64.rar music/
Create a rar archive that splits the file/files into multiple parts of equal size (50MB):
$ rar a -v50M -R ss64.rar music/
“Talent is hitting a target no-one else can hit, genius is hitting a target no-one else can see” - Schopenhauer
Related linux commands:
bzip2 - Compress or decompress named file(s).
gzip - Compress or decompress named file(s).
tar - Store, list or extract files in an archive.
unrar - Extract files from a rar archive.