How To Extract a .rar Archive Using Command Line in Ubuntu?

In this article, we’ll be discussing how to extract a .rar archive using the command line in Ubuntu. This is a handy skill to have, especially if you’re dealing with large files or folders that have been compressed into .rar format.

What is a .rar Archive?

A .rar file is a Roshal Archive Compressed file, which is a proprietary archive file format that supports data compression, error recovery, and file spanning. It is often used to compress multiple files or folders into a single file for easier sharing and storage.

Installing unrar

Before we can extract .rar files, we need to ensure that the unrar package is installed on our Ubuntu system. If it’s not already installed, you can install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get install unrar

This command uses sudo to run the command as an administrator, apt-get is the package handling utility in Ubuntu, and install is the command to install a new package. unrar is the name of the package we want to install.

Navigating to the Correct Directory

Next, we need to navigate to the directory containing the .rar file. We can do this using the cd (change directory) command. For example, if your .rar file is in the Downloads directory, you would use:

cd Downloads

Extracting the .rar File

Now that we’re in the correct directory, we can extract the .rar file. Here is the basic syntax of the unrar command:

unrar e [file]

In this command, unrar is the command to extract files from a .rar archive, e is a command switch that tells unrar to extract files to the current directory, and [file] is the name of the .rar file.

For example, if you have a file named example.rar, you would use:

unrar e example.rar

This will extract all the files in example.rar to the current directory.

Handling Errors

If you encounter an error message like “No such file or directory, No file to extract”, this suggests that the command is being run from the wrong directory or the file path is incorrect. To resolve this, either navigate to the correct directory using the cd command or provide the full path to the file.

If the file path contains spaces, it should be escaped with a \ or quoted. For example, a file named example file.rar should be referenced as example\ file.rar or "example file.rar".

Conclusion

Extracting .rar files in Ubuntu using the command line might seem tricky at first, but once you understand the basic commands and principles, it becomes a straightforward process. Remember to navigate to the correct directory and to correctly reference the file path. With these skills, you’ll be able to efficiently manage and extract .rar files on your Ubuntu system.