RAR(1)

📦
version 7.23 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 RAR(1) — the rar archiver, explained by your resident Unix bestie 💖

okay so. rar — it's the RAR archiver, manual page section 1. That's the whole vibe. Buckle up bestie, we're going in 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

rar — archive files with compression 💅 (yes that's literally it, that's the whole name line)

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

okay so here's the shape of every single command you'll ever run, no cap:

rar <command> [-<switch 1> -<switch N>] archive [files...]
[@listfiles...] [path_to_extract]

like. command first. switches after, each one with a lil dash in front. archive name. then optionally your files, optionally a listfile starting with @, optionally a path to extract into. iconic. 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so this manual page is a brief rundown of the rar archiver. like, a vibe check, not the whole saga.

it was written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution specifically, because the original program doesn't come with a manual page at all. so we made one. you're welcome. 🫶

heads up bestie: the commands and options described in here are as of rar 7.22. if you're on a different version, things might've shifted, so don't come for me.

rar is a program for creating and manipulating .rar archives. that's the whole mission statement. create archives, mess with archives, be a little archive gremlin. 🧚

👑 COMMANDS 👑

so after you type the program name, you give it a command, and then optional switches with dashes in front of them. order matters, periodt.

here's a summary of every command. for the complete description, go run rar -? yourself — this is the highlight reel, not the director's cut.

  • a — Add files to archive. the classic. the main character. 🌟
  • c — Add archive comment. and okay, important detail: comment length is limited to 256 KB. so no, you cannot paste your whole fanfic in there. 😭
  • ch — Change archive parameters. can be used with most of the archive modification options. versatile queen. 💅
  • cw — Write archive comment to a specified file.
  • d — Delete files from archive. bye bye, deleting you from the group chat. 💀
  • e — Extract files to current directory. and listen: it does not create any subdirectories. it's giving "everything goes on the floor." 🙈
  • f — Freshen files in archive. it updates those files that changed since they were packed to the archive. and it will not add new files to the archive — freshening only refreshes what's already there. know the difference bestie, iykyk.
  • i[i|c|h|t]=<string> — Find string in archives. this one's got optional parameters: case-insensitive (i), case-sensitive (c), hex search (h), and using character tables (t). and if you don't specify any parameters at all, you can use the simplified syntax i<string>. so many options, so little time. ✨
  • k — Lock archive. any command that intends to change the archive will just be ignored. it's under lock and key, no touching. 🔒
  • l[t[a],b] — List content of archive [technical[all], bare]. so lt displays the detailed file information in multiline mode. and fun fact: commands lt, lta and lb are equal to vt, vta and vb correspondingly. same energy, different letters. 🌈
  • m[f] — Move to archive [files only]. and heads up: directories will not be removed if the f modifier is used and/or the -ed switch is applied. 🎀
  • p — Print file to stdout. straight to your terminal, no chill.
  • r — Repair archive. for further details look in rar.txt. 🔧
  • rc — Reconstruct missing volumes using recovery volumes (.rev files). okay so listen: you need to specify any existing volume as the archive name. for example, rar rc backup.part03.rar. don't skip that part or it won't work, bestie. 😭
  • rn — Rename archived files. glow-up for your filenames. 💅
  • rr[N] — Add data recovery record. optionally, redundant information (recovery record) may be added to an archive. insurance policy, but for archives. 🛡️
  • rv[N] — Create recovery volumes (.rev files), which can be later used to reconstruct missing files in a volume set. and important: 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 the SFX-module in the user's home directory. 📁
  • t — Test archive files. vibe check before you commit. ✅
  • u — Update files in archive. adds files not already in the archive and updates files changed since they were packed to the archive. it does both. overachiever behavior. 🔥
  • v[t[a],b] — Verbosely list archive [technical]. yes it's the twin of l, we already covered that.
  • x — Extract files with full path. this is the one that actually respects your folder structure. the responsible sibling. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

okay bestie listen UP — every switch has to be separated by a whitespace. You literally cannot smush them together. No -rf-style mashups here. They do not go together. Not even a little. 💀
  • -? — shows the help for commands and switches 💖 same deal as when you type no option at all or type something illegal, honestly.
  • -- — tells RAR "okay that's it, no more switches in this command line ✋". Super useful when an archive name or a file name starts with the - character, because otherwise that name gets read as a switch. Rude of it, honestly.
  • -@[+] — disables file lists [-], or enables them [+].
  • -ad[1,2] — alternate destination path.
  • -ag[format] — generates the archive name from the current date and time ✨ when you're creating an archive it appends the current date string to the archive name. Iconic for daily backups, fr. For further details look in rar.txt.
  • -ai — ignore file attributes.
  • -am[s,r] — archive name and time [save, restore].
  • -ap<path> — sets the path inside the archive. This path gets merged onto file names when adding files to an archive, and pulled off of file names when extracting. 🪄
  • -as — synchronize archive contents. If you use this while archiving, any archived files that aren't in the list of files you're currently adding get deleted from the archive. So convenient when you pair it with -u (update) to keep an archive and an archiving directory in sync. 👑
  • -cfg- — disables reading configuration and environment.
  • -cl — convert file names to lower case.
  • -cu — convert file names to upper case.
  • -c- — disables showing comments.
  • -df — delete files after archiving. Paired with the a command it does exactly what the m command does. Same energy, different spelling. 🫶
  • -dh — open shared files. Lets you process files that other applications have opened for writing.
  • -ds — do not sort files while adding to a solid archive.
  • -dw — wipe files after archiving.
  • -ed — do not add empty directories.
  • -ep — exclude paths from names.
  • -ep1 — exclude base dir from names.
  • -ep2 — expand paths to full. Stores full file paths (except a drive letter and leading path separator) when archiving.
  • -ep4<path> — exclude the path prefix from names.
  • -e[+]<attr> — set file exclude [-] or include [+] attributes.
  • -f — freshen files. May be used with archive extraction or creation.
  • -hp[password] — encrypt both file data and headers. The password is case-sensitive 🔐 and if you omit the password on the command line, you'll get prompted with the message "Enter password".
  • -ht[b|c] — select hash type [BLAKE2,CRC32] for the file checksum.
  • -id[c,d,n,p,q] — display or disable messages.
  • -ierr — send all messages to stderr.
  • -ilog[name] — log errors to file.
  • -inul — disable all messages. (Silence. Blessed, blessed silence. 🙈)
  • -ioff[n] — turn off the PC after completing an operation. The optional [n] parameter specifies a value in minutes — it shuts down if no user activity is detected. 😴
  • -isnd[-] — control notification sounds.
  • -iver — display the version number.
  • -k — lock archive. Any command that intends to change the archive will just be ignored. 🔒
  • -kb — keep broken extracted files.
  • -log[f][=name] — write names to log file.
  • -m<0..5> — set compression level (0-store...3-default...5-best). By default rar uses the -m3 method (Normal compression).
  • -mc<par> — set advanced compression parameters. For further details look in rar.txt.
  • -md<size>[k,m,g] — set dictionary size in KB, MB or GB.
  • -me[par] — set encryption parameters.
  • -ms[ext;ext] — specify file types (extensions) to store.
  • -mt<threads> — set the number of threads. If you don't specify this switch, RAR will try to detect the number of available processors and pick the optimal number of threads automatically. She's self-sufficient like that 💅
  • -mlp — use large memory pages, if supported by the system. Can improve compression performance when using large dictionaries.
  • -n<file> — additionally filter included files.
  • -n@ — read additional filter masks from stdin.
  • -n@<list> — read additional filter masks from a list file.
  • -o+ — overwrite existing files.
  • -o- — do not overwrite existing files.
  • -oh — save hard links as the link instead of the file.
  • -oi[0-4][:min] — save identical files as references.
  • -ol[a,-] — process symbolic links as the link [absolute path, skip].
  • -op<path> — set the output path for extracted files.
  • -oni — allow potentially incompatible names. Permits file names that may be incompatible with the destination file system. ⚠️
  • -om[-|1][=list] — propagate Mark of the Web.
  • -or — rename files automatically.
  • -ow — save or restore file owner and group.
  • -p[password] — encrypt files with the given string as password while archiving. The password is case-sensitive 🔐 and if you omit it from the command line, you'll be prompted with the message "Enter password".
  • -qo[-|+] — add quick open information [none|force].
  • -r — recurse subdirectories.
  • -r- — disable recursion.
  • -r0 — similar to -r, but when used with the commands 'a', 'u', 'f', 'm' it will recurse subdirectories only for wildcard names.
  • -ri<p>[:<s>] — set priority and sleep time. Available on Unix and Linux only 🐧 The parameter <p> sets priority (0-default, 1-minimum...15-maximum). The optional <s> sets sleep time in milliseconds after each operation.
  • -rr[N] — add data recovery record.
  • -rv[N] — create recovery volumes.
  • -s — create solid archive.
  • -s<N> — 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 the 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.
  • -sc<chr>[obj] — specify the character set.
  • -sfx[name] — create SFX archives. The archive is merged with the SFX-module "name" in the user's home directory. The default module is taken from /usr/lib/default.sfx.
  • -si[name] — read data from standard input (stdin).
  • -sl<size> — process files with size less than specified.
  • -sm<size> — process files with size more than specified.
  • -t — test files after archiving. This switch is especially useful together with the move command, since your files only get deleted if the archive has been successfully tested. Safety first, bestie 🫶
  • -ta[mcao]<d> — process files modified after the <d> YYYYMMDDHHMMSS date.
  • -tb[mcao]<d> — process files modified before the <d> YYYYMMDDHHMMSS date.
  • -tk — keep original archive time. Stops rar from modifying the archive date when it's changing an archive.
  • -tl — set archive time to latest file. Forces rar to set the time of a changed archive to the date of the newest file in the archive.
  • -tn[mcao]<t> — process files newer than <t> time.
  • -to[mcao]<t> — process files older than <t> time.
  • -ts[m,c,a,p] — save or restore time (modification, creation, access, preserve).
  • -u — update files.
  • -v<size>[b|B|k|K|m|M|g|G|t|T] — create volumes with size=<size>*1000 [*1024, *1] bytes.
  • -ver[n] — file version control.
  • -vp — pause before each volume.
  • -w<path> — assign work directory.
  • -x<file> — exclude the specified file. Wildcards may be used and you may specify the switch '-x' several times. Stack 'em up 💅
  • -x@<list> — exclude the files in the specified list file.
  • -x@ — read file names to exclude from stdin.
  • -y — assume Yes on all queries. (No more pop-ups asking you things. Freeing, honestly. 👑)
  • -z[file] — read archive comment from file. If [file] isn't present, the comment is read from stdin.

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

The program is documented fully in rar.txt, which you'll find in /usr/share/doc/rar. 🦋

🌸 AUTHORS 🌸

This manual page was written by Petr Cech <cech@debian.org> according to "rar -?" for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others). 🫶

and that's the whole page, bestie!! it's RAR(1), dated 2026-05-04, and this is the source/version footer energy you're currently vibing with ✨ go forth and archive responsibly, mwah 💋🎀🦋

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