How To Unrar a File: Unix and Linux

Applications, images, documents, and other files of all sorts are most commonly shared across the internet in the RAR format. It is a compressed archive format, and you need to unpack or “unrar” the archives to access the files within them. 

Linux and FreeBSD operating systems do not have the “unrar” command preinstalled. Most UNIX-like systems also do not come with the command preinstalled. 

The unrar command is necessary to unpack these compressed files. Here’s a quick guide to installing and using the unrar command.

Installing the unrar Command

You can use the apt or apt-get command to install the unrar command on Ubuntu and Debian:

On Fedora Linux, you can use the dnf command to install unrar, like so:

On OpenBSD Unix, run this command to install unrar:

The yum command comes in handy if you’re using RHEL or CentOS:

You can use the pkg command this way to install unrar on FreeBSD:

If you’re using a macOS Unix or a Homebrew machine, you can use the brew command to install unrar. Bear in mind that on macOS, you will first need to install Homebrew before you can use the “brew” command to install unrar.

Once you’ve installed Homebrew, run: 

If none of these methods work, visit the rarlab website and download the binary package.

Here are the steps to download the package on 32- and 64-bit Linux and install the unrar command:

1. First, navigate to the /tmp directory

2. If you’re running 32-bit Linux, run the following:

3. If you’re running 64-bit Linux, run the following:

4. Next, untar the downloaded file:

5. You will find the unrar and rar commands in the rar sub-directory. Navigate to the rar directory and type:

6. Next, copy the unrar and rar files to the following directory:

Using the unrar Command

Let’s say you want to unpack a file named “exampleFile.rar.” 

You can run this command to check the contents of a rar archive before extracting it: 

You can then extract the file by running the command this way: