Q. How do I open rar archive files under Linux / UNIX operating systems?

A. RAR files are in compressed archive format, if you have downloaded rar files from the Internet, you need to unpack or unrar them (extract rar files).

RAR is a proprietary file format for data compression and archiving, developed by Eugene Roshal.

Under Linux and UNIX, use command called unrar. By default unrar is not being installed on Linux, FreeBSD or UNIX oses. You can install unrar command with the help of apt-get or yum command.
(See below for Windows XP info)

Install unrar command

Under Debian Linux, you need to type apt-get as follows to install unrar program:
# apt-get install unrar

If you are using Fedora core Linux then use yum command as follows (see discussion below):
# yum install unrar

If you are using FreeBSD, use:
# pkg_add -v -r unrar

If any of above, methods is not working for you, download binary package from official rarlab site:
$ cd /tmp
$ wget http://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz

Untar file
$ tar -zxvf rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz

Both unrar and rar commands are located in rar sub-directory. Just go to rar directory:
$ cd rar
$ ./unrar

Now copy rar and unrar to /bin directory:
# cp rar unrar /bin

How to use unrar

unrar command supports various options below are common options that you need to use everyday.

Task: To open rar (unpack) file in current directory type command:

$ unrar e file.rar

Please note that replace file.rar filename with your actual filename.

Task: List (l) file inside rar archive:

$ unrar l file.rar

Task: To extract (x) files with full path type command:

$ unrar x file.rar

(D) To test (t) integrity of archive, file type command:
$ unrar t file.rar