                             User's Manual
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        RAR 4.10 console version
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                       =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
                       Welcome to the RAR Archiver!
                       -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 Introduction
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

    RAR is a powerful tool allowing you to manage and control archive
  files. Console RAR supports archives only in RAR format, the names
  of which usually have a ".rar" extension. ZIP and other formats
  are not supported. Windows users may install GUI RAR version - WinRAR,
  which is able to process many more archive types.

    While console RAR and GUI WinRAR have the similar command line syntax,
  some differences exist. So it is recommended to use this rar.txt manual
  for console RAR (rar.exe in case of Windows version) and winrar.chm
  WinRAR help file for GUI WinRAR (winrar.exe).

  RAR features include:

    *  Highly sophisticated, original compression algorithm
    *  Special compression algorithms optimized for text, audio,
       graphics data, 32 and 64-bit Intel executables
    *  Better compression than similar tools, using 'solid' archiving
    *  Authenticity verification (registered version only)
    *  Self-extracting archives and volumes (SFX)
    *  Ability to recover physically damaged archives
    *  Locking, password, file order list, file security & more ...


 Configuration file
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  RAR for Unix reads configuration information from the file .rarrc
  in the user's home directory (stored in HOME environment variable)
  or in /etc directory.

  RAR for Windows reads configuration information from the file rar.ini,
  placed in the same directory as the rar.exe file.

  This file may contain the following string:

  switches=any RAR switches, separated by spaces

  For example:

  switches=-m5 -s


 Environment variable
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Default parameters may be added to the RAR command line by establishing
    an environment variable "RAR".

    For instance, in Unix following lines may be added to your profile:

      RAR='-s -md1024'
      export RAR

    RAR will use this string as default parameters in the command line and
    will create "solid" archives with 1024 KB sliding dictionary size.

    RAR handles options with priority as following:

       command line switches                   highest priority
       switches in the RAR variable            lower priority
       switches saved in configuration file    lowest priority


 Log file
 ~~~~~~~~

  If the switch -ilog is specified in the command line or configuration
  file, RAR will write informational messages, concerning errors
  encountered while processing archives, into a log file. Read switch
  -ilog description for more details.


 The file order list for solid archiving - rarfiles.lst
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  rarfiles.lst contains a user-defined file list, which tells RAR
  the order in which to add files to a solid archive. It may contain
  file names, wildcards and special entry - $default. The default
  entry defines the place in order list for files not matched
  with other entries in this file. The comment character is ';'.

  In Windows this file should be placed in the same directory as RAR
  or in %APPDATA%\WinRAR directory, in Unix - to the user's home directory
  or in /etc.

  Tips to provide improved compression and speed of operation:

  - similar files should be grouped together in the archive;
  - frequently accessed files should be placed at the beginning.

  Normally masks placed nearer to the top of list have a higher priority,
  but there is an exception from this rule. If rarfiles.lst contains such
  two masks that all files matched by one mask are also matched by another,
  that mask which matches a smaller subset of file names will have higher
  priority regardless of its position in the list. For example, if you have
  *.cpp and f*.cpp masks, f*.cpp has a higher priority, so the position of
  'filename.cpp' will be chosen according to 'f*.cpp', not '*.cpp'.


 RAR command line syntax
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Syntax

    RAR <command>  [ -<switches> ]  <archive>  [ <@listfiles...> ]
        [ <files...> ]  [ <path_to_extract\> ]

 Description

    Command line options (commands and switches) provide control of
    creating and managing archives with RAR. The command is a string (or a
    single letter) which commands RAR to perform a corresponding action.
    Switches are designed to modify the way RAR performs the action. Other
    parameters are archive name and files to be archived into or extracted
    from the archive.

    Listfiles are plain text files that contain names of files to process.
    File names should start at the first column. It is possible to
    put comments to the listfile after // characters. For example,
    you may create backup.lst containing the following strings:

    c:\work\doc\*.txt         //backup text documents
    c:\work\image\*.bmp       //backup pictures
    c:\work\misc

    and then run:

       rar a backup @backup.lst

    If you wish to read file names from stdin (standard input),
    specify the empty listfile name (just @).

    By default, Windows console RAR uses OEM (DOS) encoding in list files.
    but it can be redefined with -sc<charset>l switch.

    You may specify both usual file names and list files in the same
    command line. If neither files nor listfiles are specified,
    then *.* is implied and RAR will process all files.

    Many RAR commands, such as extraction, test or list, allow to use
    wildcards in archive name. If no extension is specified in archive
    mask, RAR assumes .rar, so * means all archives with .rar extension.
    If you need to process all archives without extension, use *. mask.
    *.* mask selects all files. Wildcards in archive name are not allowed
    when archiving and deleting.

    In Unix you need to enclose RAR command line parameters containing
    wildcards in single or double quotes to prevent their expansion
    by Unix shell. For example, this command will extract *.asm files
    from all *.rar archives in current directory:

       rar e '*.rar' '*.asm'


    Command could be any of the following:

    a       Add files to archive.

            Examples:

            1) add all *.hlp files from the current directory to 
            the archive help.rar:

            rar a help *.hlp

            2) archive all files from the current directory and subdirectories
            to 362000 bytes size solid, self-extracting volumes 
            and add the recovery record to each volume:

            rar a -r -v362 -s -sfx -rr save

            Because no file names are specified, all files (*) are assumed.

            3) as a special exception, if directory name is specified as 
            an argument and if directory name does not include file masks 
            and trailing backslashes, the entire contents of the directory
            and all subdirectories will be added to the archive even 
            if switch -r is not specified.

            The following command will add all files from the directory
            Bitmaps and its subdirectories to the RAR archive Pictures.rar:
            
            rar a Pictures.rar Bitmaps

            4) if directory name includes file masks or trailing backslashes,
            normal rules apply and you need to specify switch -r to process 
            its subdirectories. 

            The following command will add all files from directory Bitmaps,
            but not from its subdirectories, because switch -r is not
            specified:

            rar a Pictures.rar Bitmaps\*


    c       Add archive comment. Comments are displayed while the archive is
            being processed. Comment length is limited to 62000 bytes

            Examples:

            rar c distrib.rar

            Also comments may be added from a file using -z[file] switch.
            The following command adds a comment from info.txt file:

            rar c -zinfo.txt dummy


    cf      Add files comment. File comments are displayed when the 'v'
            command is given. File comment length is limited to 32767 bytes.

            Example:

            rar cf bigarch *.txt


    ch      Change archive parameters.

            This command can be used with most of archive modification
            switches to modify archive parameters. It is especially
            convenient for switches like -av, -cl, -cu, -tl, which do not
            have a dedicated command.

            It is not able to recompress, encrypt or decrypt archive data
            and it cannot merge or create volumes. If used without any
            switches, 'ch' command just copies the archive data without
            modification.

            Example:

            Set archive time to latest file:

            rar ch -tl files.rar


    cw      Write archive comment to specified file.

            Format of output file depends on -sc switch.

            If output file name is not specified, comment data will be
            sent to stdout.

            Examples:

            1) rar cw arc comment.txt

            2) rar cw -scuc arc unicode.txt

            3) rar cw arc


    d       Delete files from archive. Please note if the processing of this
            command results in removing all the files from the archive,
            the empty archive would removed.


    e       Extract files to current directory.


    f       Freshen files in archive. Updates those files changed since they
            were packed to the archive. This command will not add new files
            to the archive.


    i[i|c|h|t]=<string>
            Find string in archives.

            Supports following optional parameters:

              i - case insensitive search (default);

              c - case sensitive search;

              h - hexadecimal search;

              t - use ANSI, Unicode and OEM character tables (Windows only);

            If no parameters are specified, it is possible to use
            the simplified command syntax i<string> instead of i=<string>

            It is allowed to specify 't' modifier with other parameters,
            for example, ict=string performs case sensitive search
            using all mentioned above character tables.

            Examples:

            1) rar "ic=first level" -r c:\*.rar *.txt

            Perform case sensitive search of "first level" string
            in *.txt files in *.rar archives on the disk c:

            2) rar ih=f0e0aeaeab2d83e3a9 -r e:\texts

            Search for hex string f0 e0 ae ae ab 2d 83 e3 a9
            in rar archives in e:\texts directory.


    k       Lock archive. Any command which intends to change the archive
            will be ignored.

            Example:

            rar k final.rar


    l[t,b]  List contents of archive [technical]. Files are listed as with
            the 'v' command with the exception of the file path. i.e. only
            the file name is displayed. Optional technical information
            (host OS, solid flag and old version flag) is displayed
            when 't' modifier is used. Modifier 'b' forces RAR to output
            only bare file names without any additional information.


    m[f]    Move to archive [files only]. Moving files and directories
            results in the files and directories being erased upon
            successful completion of the packing operation. Directories will
            not be removed if 'f' modifier is used and/or '-ed' switch is
            applied.


    p       Print file to stdout.

            You may use this command together with -inul switch to disable
            all RAR messages and print only file data. It may be important
            when you need to send a file to stdout for use in pipes.


    r       Repair archive. Archive repairing is performed in two stages.
            First, the damaged archive is searched for a recovery record
            (see 'rr' command). If the archive contains a recovery record
            and if the portion of the damaged data is continuous and less
            than N*512 bytes, where N is number of recovery sectors placed
            into the archive, the chance of successful archive
            reconstruction is very high. When this stage has been completed,
            a new archive will be created, called fixed.arcname.rar,
            where 'arcname' is the original (damaged) archive name.

            If a broken archive does not contain a recovery record or if
            the archive is not completely recovered due to major damage,
            a second stage is performed. During this stage only the archive
            structure is reconstructed and it is impossible to recover
            files which fail the CRC validation, it is still possible,
            however, to recover undamaged files, which were inaccessible
            due to the broken archive structure. Mostly this is useful
            for non-solid archives. This stage is never efficient for
            archives with encrypted file headers, which can be repaired
            only if recovery record is present.

            When the second stage is completed, the reconstructed archive
            will be saved as rebuilt.arcname.rar, where 'arcname' is
            the original archive name.

            While the recovery is in progress, RAR may prompt the user for
            assistance when a suspicious file is detected.

                      Suspicious entry

              Name:  <possibly filename>
              Size:  <size>    Packed: <compressed size>

                      Add it: Yes/No/All

            Answer 'y' to add this entry to the file rebuilt.arcname.rar.

            Example:

            rar r buggy.rar


    rc      Reconstruct missing and damaged volumes using recovery volumes
            (.rev files). You need to specify any existing volume
            as the archive name, for example, 'rar rc backup.part03.rar'

            Read 'rv' command description for information about
            recovery volumes.


    rn      Rename archived files.

            The command syntax is:

            rar rn <arcname> <srcname1> <destname1> ... <srcnameN> <destnameN>

            For example, the following command:

            rar rn data.rar readme.txt readme.bak info.txt info.bak

            will rename readme.txt to readme.bak and info.txt to info.bak
            in the archive data.rar.

            It is allowed to use wildcards in the source and destination
            names for simple name transformations like changing file
            extensions. For example:

            rar rn data.rar *.txt *.bak

            will rename all *.txt files to *.bak.

            RAR does not check if the destination file name is already
            present in the archive, so you need to be careful to avoid
            duplicated names. It is especially important when using
            wildcards. Such a command is potentially dangerous, because
            a wrong wildcard may corrupt all archived names.


    rr[N]   Add data recovery record. Optionally, redundant information
            (recovery record) may be added to an archive. This will cause
            a small increase of the archive size and helps to recover
            archived files in case of disk failure or data losses of
            any other kind, provided that the damage is not too severe.

            A recovery record contains up to 524288 recovery sectors.
            The number of sectors may be specified directly in the 'rr'
            command (N = 1, 2 .. 524288) or, if it is not specified by
            the user, it will be selected automatically according to the
            archive size: a size of the recovery information will be about
            1% of the total archive size, usually allowing the recovery of
            up to 0.6% of the total archive size of continuously damaged data.

            It is also possible to specify the recovery record size in
            percent to the archive size. Just append the percent character
            to the command parameter. For example:

            rar rr3% arcname

            Note that if you run this command from .bat or .cmd file,
            you need to use rr3%% instead of rr3%, because the command
            processor treats the single '%' character as the start of
            a batch file parameter. You may also use 'p' instead of '%',
            so 'rr3p' will work too.

            If data is damaged continuously, then each rr-sector helps to
            recover 512 bytes of damaged information. This value may be
            lower in cases of multiple damage.

            The size of the recovery record may be approximately determined
            by the formula <archive size>/256 + <number of recovery
            sectors>*512 bytes.


    rv[N]   Create recovery volumes (.rev files), which can be later
            used to reconstruct missing and damaged files in a volume
            set. This command makes sense only for multivolume archives
            and you need to specify the name of the first volume
            in the set as the archive name. For example:

            rar rv3 data.part01.rar

            This feature may be useful for backups or, for example,
            when you posted a multivolume archive to a newsgroup
            and a part of subscribers did not receive some of the files.
            Reposting recovery volumes instead of usual volumes
            may reduce the total number of files to repost.

            Each recovery volume is able to reconstruct one missing
            or damaged RAR volume. For example, if you have 30 volumes
            and 3 recovery volumes, you are able to reconstruct any
            3 missing volumes. If the number of .rev files is less than
            the number of missing volumes, reconstructing is impossible.
            The total number of usual and recovery volumes must not
            exceed 255.

            Original RAR volumes must not be modified after creating
            recovery volumes. Recovery algorithm uses data stored both
            in REV files and in RAR volumes to rebuild missing RAR volumes.
            So if you modify RAR volumes, for example, lock them, after
            creating REV files, recovery process will fail.

            The optional <N> parameter specifies a number of recovery
            volumes to create and must be less than the total number
            of RAR volumes in the set. You may also append a percent
            character to this parameter, in such case the number of
            creating .rev files will be equal to this percent taken
            from the total number of RAR volumes. For example:

            rar rv15% data.part01.rar

            RAR reconstructs missing and damaged volumes either when
            using 'rc' command or automatically, if it cannot locate
            the next volume and finds the required number of .rev files
            when unpacking.

            Original copies of damaged volumes are renamed to *.bad
            before reconstruction. For example, volname.part03.rar
            will be renamed to volname.part03.rar.bad.
            

    s[name] Convert archive to SFX. The archive is merged with a SFX module
            (using a module in file default.sfx or specified in the switch).
            In the Windows version default.sfx should be placed in the
            same directory as the rar.exe, in Unix - in the user's
            home directory, in /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib.

    s-      Remove SFX module from the already existing SFX archive.
            RAR creates a new archive without SFX module, the original
            SFX archive is not deleted.

    t       Test archive files. This command performs a dummy file
            extraction, writing nothing to the output stream, in order to
            validate the specified file(s).

            Examples:

            Test archives in current directory:

            rar t *

            or for Unix:

            rar t '*'

            User may test archives in all sub-directories, starting
            with the current path:

            rar t -r *

            or for Unix:

            rar t -r '*'


    u       Update files in archive. Adds files not yet in the archive
            and updates files that have been changed since they were packed
            into the archive.


    v[t,b]  Verbosely list the contents of archive [technical].
            Files are listed using the format: full pathname, file comment,
            original and compressed size, compression ratio, last update
            date and time, attributes, CRC, compression method and minimum
            RAR version required to extract.

            Compression method information is displayed as m<N><d>.
            N shows the file compression method and uses same values
            as -m<n> switch, where '0', '1', ..., '5' mean 'store',
            'fastest', ..., 'best'. 'd' indicates the compression
            dictionary, as in -md<n> switch, where 'a', 'b', ..., 'g'
            mean 64 KB, 128 KB, ..., 4096 KB. Directories always have
            '0' compression method and no dictionary size.
            
            Optional technical information such as "Host OS", "Solid"
            and "Old" flags is displayed, when 't' modifier is used.
            "Host OS" shows the native operating system of RAR version
            used to create an archive. "Solid" flag is set if file uses
            the compression statistics from preceding files (see -s switch).
            "Old" flag means "Old file version" and indicates if it is
            the latest or old file version (see -ver switch for details).

            Modifier 'b' forces RAR to output only bare file names without
            any additional information.

            To list the contents of all archive volumes, use an asterisk
            ('*') in place of the archive file extension or use the '-v'
            switch.

            Example:

            1) list contents of system.rar archive (technical mode)
               and redirect output to file techlist.lst

               rar vt system >techlist.lst

            2) list contents of tutorial.rar archive (bare file names mode)

               rar vb tutorial


    x       Extract files with full path.

            Example:

            rar x -av- -c- dime 10cents.txt

            extract specified file to current path. AV check and comment
            show are disabled.


    Switches (used in conjunction with a command):


    -?      Display help on commands and switches. The same as when none
            or an illegal command line option is entered.


    --      Stop switches scanning

            This switch tells to RAR that there are no more switches
            in the command line. It could be useful, if either archive
            or file name starts from '-' character. Without '--' switch
            such a name would be treated as a switch.

            Example:

            add all files from the current directory to the solid archive
            '-StrangeName'

            RAR a -s -- -StrangeName


    -@[+]   Disable [enable] file lists

            RAR treats command line parameters starting from '@' character
            as file lists. So by default, RAR attempts to read 'filename'
            filelist, when encountering '@filename' parameter. 
            But if '@filename' file exists, RAR treats the parameter
            as '@filename' file instead of reading the file list.

            Switch -@[+] allows to avoid this ambiguity and strictly
            define how to handle parameters starting from '@' character.

            If you specify -@, all such parameters found after this switch
            will be considered as file names, not file lists.

            If you specify -@+, all such parameters found after this switch
            will be considered as file lists, not file names.

            This switch does not affect processing parameters located
            before it.

            Example:

            test the archived file '@home'

            rar t -@ notes.rar @home


    -ac     Clear Archive attribute after compression or extraction
            (Windows version only).


    -ad     Append archive name to destination path.

            This option may be useful when unpacking a group of archives.
            By default RAR places files from all archives in the same
            directory, but this switch creates a separate directory
            for files unpacked from each archive.

            Example:

            rar x -ad *.rar data\

            RAR will create subdirectories below 'data' for every unpacking
            archive.


    -ag[format]
            Generate archive name using the current date and time.

            Appends the current date string to an archive name when
            creating or processing an archive. Useful for daily backups.

            Format of the appending string is defined by the optional
            "format" parameter or by "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" if this parameter
            is absent. The format string may include the following
            characters:

            Y   - year
            M   - month
            MMM - month name as text string (Jan, Feb, etc.)
            W   - a week number (a week starts with Monday)
            A   - day of week number (Monday is 1, Sunday - 7)
            D   - day of month
            E   - day of year
            H   - hours
            M   - minutes (treated as minutes if encountered after hours)
            I   - minutes (treated as minutes regardless of hours position) 
            S   - seconds
            N   - archive number. RAR searches for already existing archive
                  with generated name and if found, increments the archive
                  number until generating a unique name. 'N' format character
                  is not supported when creating volumes.
                  When peforming non-archiving operations like extracting,
                  RAR selects the existing archive preceding the first
                  unused name or sets N to 1 if no such archive exists.

            Each of format string characters listed above represents only
            one character added to archive name. For example, use WW for
            two digit week number or YYYY to define four digit year.

            If the first character in the format string is '+', positions
            of the date string and base archive name are exchanged,
            so a date will precede an archive name.

            The format string may contain optional text enclosed in '{'
            and '}' characters. This text is inserted into archive name.

            All other characters are added to an archive name without
            changes.

            If you need to process an already existing archive, be careful
            with -ag switch. Depending on the format string and time passed
            since previous -ag use, generated and existing archive names
            may mismatch. In this case RAR will create or open a new archive
            instead of processing the already existing one. You may use
            -log switch to write the generated archive name to a file
            and then read it from file for further processing.


            Examples:

            1) use the default YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format

               rar a -ag backup

            2) use DD-MMM-YY format

               rar t -agDD-MMM-YY backup

            3) use YYYYMMDDHHMM format, place date before 'backup'

               rar a -ag+YYYYMMDDHHMM backup

            4) use YYYY-WW-A format, include fields description

               rar a -agYYYY{year}-WW{week}-A{wday} backup

            5) use YYYYMMDD and the archive number. It allows to generate
               unique names even when YYYYMMDD format mask used more than
               once in the same day

               rar a -agYYYYMMDD-NN backup

    
    -ai     Ignore file attributes.

            If this switch is used when extracting, RAR does not set
            general file attributes stored in archive to extracted files.
            This switch preserves attributes assigned by operating system
            to a newly created file.

            In Windows it affects archive, system, hidden and read-only
            attributes. in Unix - user, group, and others file permissions.


    -ao     Add files with Archive attribute set
            (Windows version only).

            Example:

            add all disk C: files with Archive attribute set
            to the 'f:backup' and clear files Archive attribute

            rar a -r -ac -ao f:backup c:\*.*


    -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.

            For example, if you wish to add the file 'readme.txt'
            to the directory 'DOCS\ENG' of archive 'release',
            you may run:

            rar a -apDOCS\ENG release readme.txt

            or to extract 'ENG' to the current directory:

            rar x -apDOCS release DOCS\ENG\*.*


    -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 the archive. It is convenient to
            use this switch in combination with -u (update) to synchronize
            contents of an archive and an archiving directory.

            For example, after the command:

            rar a -u -as backup sources\*.cpp

            the archive 'backup.rar' will contain only *.cpp files
            from directory 'sources', all other files will be deleted
            from the archive. It looks similar to creating a new archive,
            but with one important exception: if no files are modified
            since the last backup, the operation is performed much faster
            than the creation of a new archive.


    -av     Put authenticity verification (registered versions only).
            RAR will put, in every new and updated archive, information
            concerning the creator, last update time and archive name.

            If an archive, containing authenticity verification, is being
            modified and this switch is not specified, the authenticity
            verification information will be removed.

            When extracting, testing, listing or updating an archive with
            the '-av' switch, RAR will perform integrity validation and
            display the message:

              Verifying authenticity information ...

            In the case of successful authenticity verification, 
            message 'Ok', creator name and last update information will be
            displayed. In the case of authenticity verification failure,
            message 'FAILED' will be displayed.

            RAR authenticity verification can be forged and does not
            provide the same level of security as modern digital signature
            schemes based on public key infrastructure. We recommend 
            to use this RAR feature as informational only, like a special
            archive comment. Avoid it in situations, when accurate
            information about archive creator is important.

            In order to enable the authenticity verification feature,
            the program must be registered. Please contact your local
            distribution site or the world-wide distribution center.


    -av-    Disable authenticity verification checking or adding.


    -cfg-   Ignore configuration file and RAR environment variable.


    -cl     Convert file names to lower case.


    -cu     Convert file names to upper case.


    -c-     Disable comments show.


    -df     Delete files after archiving

            Move files to archive. 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.

            This switch helps if an application allowed read access
            to file, but if all types of file access are prohibited,
            the file open operation will still fail.

            This option could be dangerous, because it allows
            to archive a file, which at the same time is modified
            by another application, so use it carefully.


    -dr     Delete files to Recycle Bin

            Delete files after archiving and place them to Recycle Bin.
            Available in Windows version only.
           

    -ds     Do not sort files while adding to a solid archive.


    -dw     Wipe files after archiving

            Delete files after archiving. Before deleting file data
            are overwritten by zero bytes to prevent recovery of
            deleted files.

            Please be aware that such approach is designed for usual
            hard disks, but may fail to overwrite the original file data
            on solid state disks, as result of SSD wear leveling technology
            and more complicated data addressing.


    -ed     Do not add empty directories

            This switch indicates that directory records are not to be
            stored in the created archive. When extracting such archives,
            RAR creates non-empty directories basing on paths of files
            contained in them. Information about empty directories is
            lost. All attributes of non-empty directories except a name
            (access rights, streams, etc.) will be lost as well, so use
            this switch only if you do not need to preserve such information.

            If -ed is used with 'm' command or -df switch, RAR will not
            remove empty directories.


    -ee     Do not process extended attributes

            Disables saving and restoring extended file attributes.
            Only for OS/2 versions.


    -en     Do not add "end of archive" block

            By default, RAR adds an "end of archive" block to the end of
            a new or updated archive. It allows to skip external data like
            digital signatures safely, but in some special cases it may be
            useful to disable this feature. For example, if an archive
            is transferred between two systems via an unreliable link and
            at the same time a sender adds new files to it, it may be
            important to be sure that the already received file part will
            not be modified on the other end between transfer sessions.

            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. This switch enables files to be added
            to an archive without including the path information. This
            could, of course, result in multiple files existing in the
            archive with the same name.


    -ep1    Exclude base dir from names. Do not store the path entered in
            the command line.

            Example:

            all files and directories from the directory tmp will be added
            to the archive 'test', but the path in archived names will not
            include 'tmp\'

            rar a -ep1 -r test tmp\*

            This is equivalent to the commands:

            cd tmp
            rar a -r ..\test
            cd ..


    -ep2    Expand paths to full. Store full file paths (except a drive
            letter and leading path separator) when archiving.
    

    -ep3    Expand paths to full including the drive letter.
            Windows version only.

            This switch stores full file paths including the drive
            letter if used when archiving. Drive separators (colons)
            are replaced by underscore characters.

            If you use -ep3 when extracting, it will change
            underscores back to colons and create unpacked files
            in their original directories and disks. If the user
            also specified a destination path, it will be ignored.

            It also converts UNC paths from \\server\share to
            __server\share when archiving and restores them to
            the original state when extracting.
            
            This switch can help to backup several disks to the same
            archive. For example, you may run:

            rar a -ep3 -r backup.rar c:\ d:\ e:\

            to create backup and:

            rar x -ep3 backup.rar

            to restore it.

            But be cautious and use -ep3 only if you are sure that
            extracting archive does not contain any malicious files.
            In other words, use it if you have created an archive yourself
            or completely trust its author. This switch allows to overwrite
            any file in any location on your computer including important
            system files and should normally be used only for the purpose
            of backup and restore.


    -e[+]<attr>
            Specifies file exclude or include attributes mask.

            <attr> is a number in the decimal, octal (with leading '0')
            or hex (with leading '0x') format.

            By default, without '+' sign before <attr>, this switch
            defines the exclude mask. So if result of bitwise AND between
            <attr> and file attributes is nonzero, file would not be
            processed.

            If '+' sign is present, it specifies the include mask.
            Only those files which have at least one attribute specified
            in the mask will be processed.

            In Windows version is also possible to use symbols D, S, H,
            A and R instead of a digital mask to denote directories
            and files with system, hidden, archive and read-only attributes.
            The order in which the attributes are given is not significant.
            Unix version supports D and V symbols to define directory
            and device attributes.

            It is allowed to specify both -e<attr> and -e+<attr>
            in the same command line.

            Examples:

            1) archive only directory names without their contents

               rar a -r -e+d dirs

            2) do not compress system and hidden files:

               rar a -esh files

            3) do not extract read-only files:

               rar x -er files


    -f      Freshen files. May be used with archive extraction or creation.
            The command string "a -f" is equivalent to the command 'f', you
            could also use the switch '-f' with the commands 'm' or 'mf'. If
            the switch '-f' is used with the commands 'x' or 'e', then only
            old files would be replaced with new versions extracted from the
            archive.


    -hp[p]  Encrypt both file data and headers.

            This switch is similar to -p[p], but switch -p encrypts
            only file data and leaves other information like file names
            visible. This switch encrypts all sensitive archive areas
            including file data, file names, sizes, attributes, comments
            and other blocks, so it provides a higher security level.
            Without a password it is impossible to view even the list of
            files in archive encrypted with -hp.

            Example:

            rar a -hpfGzq5yKw secret report.txt

            will add the file report.txt to the encrypted archive
            secret.rar using the password 'fGzq5yKw'


    -id[c,d,p,q]
            Disable messages.

            Switch -idc disables the copyright string.

            Switch -idd disables "Done" string at the end of operation.

            Switch -idp disables the percentage indicator.

            Switch -idq turns on the quiet mode, so only error messages
            and questions are displayed.

            It is allowed to use several modifiers at once,
            so switch -idcdp is correct.


    -ieml[.][addr]
            Send archive by email. Windows version only.

            Attach an archive created or updated by the add command
            to email message. You need to have a MAPI compliant email
            client to use this switch (most modern email programs
            support MAPI interface).

            You may enter a destination email address directly
            in the switch or leave it blank. In the latter case you
            will be asked for it by your email program. It is possible
            to specify several addresses separated by commas or semicolons.

            If you append a dot character to -ieml, an archive will be
            deleted after it was successfully attached to an email.
            If the switch is used when creating a multivolume archive,
            every volume is attached to a separate email message.


    -ierr   Send all messages to stderr.


    -ilog[name]
            Log errors to file (registered version only).

            Write error messages to rar.log file. If optional 'name'
            parameter is not specified, the log file is created
            using the following defaults:

            Unix:    .rarlog file in the user's home directory;
            Windows: rar.log file in %APPDATA%\WinRAR directory.

            If 'name' parameter includes a file name without path,
            RAR will create the log file in default directory from
            the list above using the specified name. Include both path
            and name to 'name' parameter if you wish to change
            the location of log file.

            Example:

            rar a -ilogc:\log\backup.log backup d:\docs

            will create c:\log\backup.log log file in case of errors.


    -inul   Disable all messages.


    -ioff   Turn PC off after completing an operation. The hardware must
            support the power off feature. Windows version only.


    -isnd   Enable sound.


    -k      Lock archive. Any command which intends to change the archive
            will be ignored.


    -kb     Keep broken extracted files.

            RAR, by default, deletes files with CRC errors after
            extraction. The switch -kb specifies that files with
            CRC errors should not be deleted.


    -log[fmt][=name]
            Write names to log file.

            This switch allows to write archive and file names to specified
            text file in archiving, extracting, deleting and listing commands.
            Its behavior is defined by 'fmt' string, which can include one
            or more of following characters:

            A - write archive names to log file. If RAR creates or processes
                volumes, all volume names are logged.

            F - write processed file names to log file. It includes
                files added to archive and extracted, deleted or listed
                files inside of archive.

            P - if log file with specified name is exist, append data
                to existing file instead of creating a new one.
            
            U - write data in Unicode format.

            If neither 'A' nor 'F' are specified, 'A' is assumed.

            'name' parameter allows to specify the name of log file.
            It must be separated from 'fmt' string by '=' character.
            If 'name' is not present, RAR will use the default rarinfo.log
            file name.

            It is allowed to specify several -log switches in the same
            command line.

            This switch can be particularly useful, when you need to process
            an archive created with -ag or -v switches in a batch script.
            You can specify -loga=arcname.txt when creating an archive
            and then read an archive name generated by RAR from arcname.txt
            with an appropriate command. For example, in Windows batch file
            it can be: set /p name=<arcname.txt.

            Examples:

            1) write names of created volumes to vollist.txt:

               rar a -v100m -loga=vollist.txt volume.rar c:\data

            2) write the generated archive name to backup.txt in Unicode:

               rar a -ag -logau=backup.txt backup.rar myfiles\*

            3) write names of tested volumes to vollist.txt and names
               of tested archived files inside of volumes to filelist.txt:

               rar t -log=vollist.txt -logf=filelist.txt volume.part01.rar

    
    -m<n>   Set compression method:

       -m0   store     do not compress file when adding to archive
       -m1   fastest   use fastest method (less compressive)
       -m2   fast      use fast compression method
       -m3   normal    use normal (default) compression method
       -m4   good      use good compression method (more
                       compressive, but slower)
       -m5   best      use best compression method (slightly more
                       compressive, but slowest)

            If this switch is not specified, RAR uses -m3 method
            (normal compression).

            By default, RAR uses only the general compression
            algorithm in -m1 and -m2 methods, advanced algorithms
            like audio and true color processing are enabled
            only in -m3..-m5 modes, the advanced text compression
            is activated only in -m4..-m5. This default can be
            overridden using -mc switch.


    -mc<par>
            Set advanced compression parameters.

            This switch is intended mainly for benchmarking and
            experiments. In the real environment it is usually better
            to allow RAR to select optimal parameters automatically.
            Please note that improper use of this switch may lead
            to very serious performance and compression loss, so use
            it only if you clearly understand what you do.

            It has the following syntax:

            -mc[param1][:param2][module][+ or -]

            where <module> is the one character field denoting a part
            of the compression algorithm, which has to be configured.

            It may have the following values:

              A       - audio compression;
              C       - true color (RGB) data compression;
              D       - delta compression;
              E       - 32-bit x86 executables compression;
              I       - 64-bit Intel Itanium executables compression;
              T       - text compression.

            '+' sign at the end of switch applies the selected algorithm
            module to all processed data, '-' disables the module at all.
            If no sign is specified, RAR will choose modules automatically,
            based on data and the current compression method.

            Switch -mc- disables all optional modules and allows only
            the general compression algorithm.

            <Param1> and <Param2> are module dependent parameters
            described below.

            Audio compression, delta compression:

            <Param1> is a number of byte channels (can be 1 - 31).
            RAR splits multibyte channels to bytes, for example,
            two 16-bit audio channels are considered by RAR as four
            channels one byte each.

            <Param2> is ignored.


            32-bit x86 Intel executables compression,
            64-bit Intel Itanium executables compression,
            true color (RGB) data compression:

            <Param1> and <Param2> are ignored.


            Text compression: 

            <Param1> is the order of PPM algorithm (can be 2 - 63).
            Usually a higher value slightly increases the compression ratio
            of redundant data, but only if enough memory is available
            to PPM. In case of lack of memory the result may be negative.
            Higher order values decrease both compression and decompression
            speed.

            <Param2> is memory in megabytes allocated for PPM (1-128).
            Higher values may increase the compression ratio, but note
            that PPM uses the equal memory size both to compress and
            decompress, so if you allocate too much memory when creating
            an archive, other people may have problems when decompressing
            it on a computer with less memory installed. Decompression
            will be still possible using virtual memory, but it may
            become very slow.


            Examples:

            1) switch -mc1a+ forces use of 8-bit mono audio compression
            for all data.

            2) switch -mc10:40t+ forces use of text compression
            algorithm for all data, sets the compression order to 10
            and allocates 40 MB memory.

            3) switch -mc12t sets the text compression order to 12,
            when the text compression is used, but leaves to RAR to
            decide when to use it.

            4) switches -mct- -mcd- disable text and delta compression.


    -md<n>  Select dictionary size <n> in KB. Must be 64, 128, 256, 512,
            1024, 2048 or 4096 or a letter 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'
            respectively.

            The sliding dictionary is a special memory area used by the
            compression algorithm. If the size of the file being compressed
            (or the total files size in the case of a solid archive) is
            greater than the dictionary size, then increasing the dictionary
            size will generally increase compression ratio, decrease packing
            speed and increase memory requirements.

            RAR can reduce the dictionary size if it is significantly
            larger than the size of the source data. It helps to reduce
            memory requirements without decreasing compression.

            Default sliding dictionary size is 4096 KB.

            Example:

            RAR a -s -mdd sources *.asm
                or
            RAR a -s -md512 sources *.asm

            Will create a solid archive using a 512 KB dictionary.


    -ms[list]
            Specify file types to store.

            Specify file types, which will be stored without compression.
            This switch may be used to store already compressed files,
            which helps to increase archiving speed without noticeable
            loss in the compression ratio.

            Optional <list> parameter defines the list of file extensions
            separated by semicolons. For example, -msrar;zip;jpg will
            force RAR to store without compression all RAR and ZIP
            archives and JPG images. It is also allowed to specify wildcard
            file masks in the list, so -ms*.rar;*.zip;*.jpg will work too.

            If <list> is not specified, -ms switch will use the default
            set of extensions, which includes the following file types:

            7z, ace, arj, bz2, cab, gz, jpeg, jpg, lha, lzh, mp3,
            rar, taz, tgz, z, zip


    -mt<threads>
            Set the number of threads. Available in Windows version only.

            <threads> parameter can take values from 0 to 16.
            It defines the recommended number of active threads
            for compression algorithm. If it is greater than 0,
            RAR will use the multithreaded version of compression
            algorithm providing higher speed on multiprocessor
            architectures. Real number of active threads can differ
            from the specified.

            If <threads> is zero, RAR will use the single threaded
            compression algorithm.

            Change of <threads> parameter slightly affects the compression
            ratio, so archives created with different -mt switches
            will not be exactly the same even if all other compression
            settings are equal.

            If -mt switch is not specified, RAR will try to detect
            the number of available processors and select the optimal
            number of threads automatically.


    -n<f>   Include only the specified file <f>. Wildcards may be used
            both in the name and file parts of file mask. You may specify
            the switch '-n' several times.

            This switch does not replace usual file masks, which still
            need to be entered in the command line. It is an additional
            filter limiting processed files only to those matching
            the include mask specified in -n switch. It can help to
            reduce the command line length sometimes.

            For example, if you need to compress all *.txt and *.lst
            files in directories Project and Info, you can enter:

            rar a -r text Project\*.txt Project\*.lst Info\*.txt Info\*.lst

            or using the switch -n:

            rar a -r -n*.txt -n*.lst text Project Info


    -n@<lf> Include files listed in the specified list file.

            Similar to -n<f> switch, but reads include masks from
            the list file. If you use -n@ without the list file name
            parameter, it will read file names from stdin.

            Example:

            rar a -r -n@inclist.txt text Project Info


    -oc     Set NTFS Compressed attribute. Windows version only.

            This switch allows to restore NTFS Compressed attribute
            when extracting files. RAR saves Compressed file attributes
            when creating an archive, but does not restore them unless
            -oc switch is specified.


    -ol     Save symbolic links as the link instead of the file.
            Unix version only.


    -or     Rename extracted files automatically if file with the same name
            already exists. Renamed file will get the name like
            'filename(N).txt', where 'filename.txt' is the original file
            name and 'N' is a number starting from 1 and incrementing
            if file exists.


    -os     Save NTFS streams. Windows version only.

            This switch has meaning only for NTFS file system and allows
            to save alternative data streams associated with a file.
            It is especially important in Windows 2000, XP and newer,
            which use streams to keep some file dependent information
            like file descriptions. If you use RAR to backup your
            NTFS disks, it is recommended to specify this switch.


    -ow     Use this switch when archiving to save file security
            information and when extracting to restore it.

            Unix RAR version saves file owner and group when using
            this switch.

            Windows version stores owner, group, file permissions and
            audit information, but only if you have necessary privileges
            to read them. Note that only NTFS file system supports
            file based security under Windows.


    -o[+|-] Set the overwrite mode. Can be used both when extracting
            and updating archived files. Following modes are available:

              -o           Ask before overwrite
                           (default for extracting files);

              -o+          Overwrite all
                           (default for updating archived files);

              -o-          Skip existing files.
                           

    -p[p]   Encrypt files with the string <p> 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".

            Example:

            rar a -pmyhoney secret1 *.txt

            add files *.txt and encrypt them with password "myhoney".


    -p-     Do not query password


    -r      Recurse subdirectories. May be used with commands:
            a, u, f, m, x, e, t, p, v, l, c, cf and s.

            When used with the commands 'a', 'u', 'f', 'm' will process
            files in all sub-directories as well as the current working
            directory.

            When used with the commands x, e, t, p, v, l, c, cf or s will
            process all archives in sub-directories as well as the current
            working directory.


    -r-     Disable recursion.

            Even without -r switch RAR can enable the recursion
            automatically in some situations. Switch -r- prohibits it.

            If you specify a directory name when archiving and if such 
            name does not include wildcards, by default RAR adds
            the directory contents even if switch -r is not specified.
            Also RAR automatically enables the recursion if disk root
            without wildcards is specified as a file mask. Switch -r- 
            disables such behavior. 
            
            For example:
            
            rar a -r- arc dirname
            
            command will add only the empty 'dirname' directory and ignore 
            its contents. Following command:
            
            rar a -r- arc c:\
            
            will compress contents of root c: directory only and 
            will not recurse into subdirectories.


    -r0     Similar to -r, but when used with the commands 'a', 'u', 'f',
            'm' will recurse into subdirectories only for those file masks,
            which include wildcard characters '*' and '?'.
            
            This switch works only for file names. Directory names without
            a file name part, such as 'dirname', are not affected by -r0
            and their contents is added to archive completely unless -r-
            switch is specified.

            Example:

            rar a -r0 docs.rar *.doc readme.txt

            add *.doc files from the current directory and its subdirectories
            and readme.txt only from the current directory to docs.rar
            archive. In case of usual -r switch, RAR would search for
            readme.txt in subdirectories too.


    -ri<p>[:<s>]
            Set priority and sleep time. Available only in RAR for Windows.
            This switch regulates system load by RAR in multitasking
            environment. Possible task priority <p> values are 0 - 15.

            If <p> is 0, RAR uses the default task priority.
            <p> equal to 1 sets the lowest possible priority,
            15 - the highest possible.

            Sleep time <s> is a value from 0 to 1000 (milliseconds).
            This is a period of time that RAR gives back to the system
            after every read or write operation while compressing
            or extracting. Non-zero <s> may be useful if you need to reduce
            system load even more than can be achieved with <p> parameter.

            Example:

            execute RAR with default priority and 10 ms sleep time:

            rar a -ri0:10 backup *.*


    -rr[N]  Add a data recovery record. This switch is used when creating
            or modifying an archive to add a data recovery record to
            the archive. See the 'rr[N]' command description for details.


    -rv[N]  Create recovery volumes. This switch is used when creating
            a multivolume archive to generate recovery volumes.
            See the 'rv[N]' command description for details.


    -s      Create solid archive. A solid archive is an archive packed by
            a special compression method, which treats several or all 
            files, within the archive, as one continuous data stream.

            Solid archiving significantly increases compression, when 
            adding a large number of small, similar files. But it also
            has a few important disadvantages: slower updating of existing
            solid archives, slower access to individual files, lower
            damage resistance.

            Usually files in a solid archive are sorted by extension.
            But it is possible to disable sorting with -ds switch or set
            an alternative file order using a special file, rarfiles.lst.

            Example:

            create solid archive sources.rar with 512 KB dictionary,
            recursing all directories, starting with the current directory.
            Add only .asm files:

            rar a -s -md512 sources.rar *.asm -r


    -s<N>   Create solid groups using file count

            Similar to -s, but resets solid statistics after compressing
            <N> files. Usually decreases compression, but also
            decreases losses in case of solid archive damages.


    -sc<charset>[objects]
            Specify the character set for list files and archive
            comment files.

            'Charset' parameter is mandatory and can have one
            of the following values:

              U - Unicode;
              A - ANSI (Windows) encoding. Windows version only;
              O - OEM (DOS) encoding. Windows version only.

            Files in Unicode format must have FFFE or FEFF Unicode
            character in the beginning, otherwise RAR will ignore
            this switch and process the file as ASCII text.

            'Objects' parameter is optional and can have one of
            the following values:

              L - list files;
              C - comment files.

            It is allowed to specify more than one object, for example,
            -scolc. If 'objects' parameter is missing, 'charset' is applied
            to all objects.

            This switch allows to specify the character set for files
            in -z[file] switch, list files and comment files written by
            "cw" command.

            Examples:

            1) rar a -scol data @list

            Read names contained in 'list' using OEM encoding.

            2) rar c -scuc -zcomment.txt data

            Read comment.txt as Unicode file.

            3) rar cw -scuc data comment.txt

            Write comment.txt as Unicode file.


    -se     Create solid groups using extension

            Similar to -s, but resets solid statistics if file extension
            is changed. Usually decreases compression, but also
            decreases losses from solid archive damages.


    -sfx[name]
            Create SFX archives. If this switch is used when creating a new
            archive, a Self-Extracting archive (using a module in file
            default.sfx or specified in the switch) would be created.
            In the Windows version default.sfx should be placed in the
            same directory as the rar.exe, in Unix - in the user's
            home directory, in /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib.

            Example:

            rar a -sfxwincon.sfx myinst

            create SelF-eXtracting (SFX) archive using wincon.sfx
            SFX-module.


    -si[name]
            Read data from stdin (standard input), when creating
            an archive. Optional 'name' parameter allows to specify
            a file name of compressed stdin data in the created
            archive. If this parameter is missing, the name will be
            set to 'stdin'. This switch cannot be used with -v.

            Example:

            type Tree.Far | rar a -siTree.Far tree.rar

            will compress 'type Tree.Far' output as 'Tree.Far' file.


    -sl<size>
            Process only those files, which size is less than
            specified in <size> parameter of this switch.
            Parameter <size> must be specified in bytes.


    -sm<size>
            Process only those files, which size is more than
            specified in <size> parameter of this switch.
            Parameter <size> must be specified in bytes.


    -sv     Create independent solid volumes

            By default RAR tries to reset solid statistics as soon
            as possible when starting a new volume, but only 
            if enough data was packed after a previous reset
            (at least a few megabytes).

            This switch forces RAR to ignore packed data size and attempt
            to reset statistics for volumes of any size. It decreases
            compression, but increases chances to extract a part of data 
            if one of several solid volumes in a volume set was lost
            or damaged.

            Note that sometimes RAR cannot reset statistics even
            using this switch. For example, it cannot be done when 
            compressing one large file split between several volumes.
            RAR is able to reset solid statistics only between separate 
            files, but not inside of single file.

            Ignored if used when creating a non-volume archive.


    -sv-    Create dependent solid volumes

            Disables to reset solid statistics between volumes.

            It slightly increases compression, but significantly reduces 
            chances to extract a part of data if one of several solid
            volumes in a volume set was lost or damaged.

            Ignored if used when creating a non-volume archive.


    -s-     Disable solid archiving


    -t      Test files after archiving. This switch is especially
            useful in combination with the move command, so files will be
            deleted only if the archive had been successfully tested.


    -ta<date>
            Process only files modified after the specified date.

            Format of the date string is YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
            It is allowed to insert separators like '-' or ':' to
            the date string and omit trailing fields. For example,
            the following switch is correct: -ta2001-11-20
            Internally it will be expanded to -ta20011120000000
            and treated as "files modified after 0 hour 0 minutes
            0 seconds of 20 November 2001".


    -tb<date>
            Process only files modified before the specified date.
            Format of the switch is the same as -ta<date>.


    -tk     Keep original archive date. Prevents RAR from modifying the
            archive date when changing an archive.


    -tl     Set archive time to newest file. Forces RAR to set the date of a
            changed archive to the date of the newest file in the archive.


    -tn<time>
            Process files newer than the specified time period. Format
            of the time string is:

            [<ndays>d][<nhours>h][<nminutes>m][<nseconds>s]

            For example, use switch -tn15d to process files newer
            than 15 days and -tn2h30m to process files newer than
            2 hours 30 minutes.


    -to<time>
            Process files older than the specified time period. Format
            of the switch is the same as -tn<time>.


    -ts<m,c,a>[N]
            Save or restore file time (modification, creation, access).

            Switch -tsm instructs RAR to save file modification time,
            -tsc - creation time and tsa - last access time. Optional
            parameter after the switch is the number between 0 and 4
            controlling the file time precision. Value '1' enables
            1 second precision, 2 - 0.0065536 sec, 3 - 0.0000256 sec and
            4 or '+' enables the maximum NTFS time precision, which is
            equal to 0.0000001 sec. Value '0' or '-' means that creation
            and access time are not saved and low (two seconds) precision
            is used for modification time. Higher precision modes add
            more data to archive, up to 19 additional bytes per file
            in case of -tsm4 -tsa4 -tsc4 combination. If no precision
            is specified, RAR uses '4' (high) value.

            Default RAR mode is -tsm4 -tsc0 -tsa0, so modification time
            is stored with the high precision and other times are ignored.

            It is necessary to specify -tsc and -tsa switches to set
            creation and access time when unpacking files (precision
            is irrelevant, but must not be 0). By default RAR sets
            only the modification time, even if archive contains
            creation and last access time. Setting the modification
            time to unpacked files may be also disabled with -tsm-.

            It is possible to omit the time type letter if you need
            to apply the switch to all three times. For example,
            -tsm4 -tsa4 -tsc4 can be replaced by -ts4, -ts+ or -ts.
            Use -ts- to save only the low precision modification time
            or to ignore all three file times on unpacking.

            When creating an archive, RAR automatically reduces
            the precision if high mode is not supported by the file
            system. It is not more than 2 seconds on FAT and 1 second
            in Unix. NTFS time precision is 0.0000001 second.

            Operating systems limit which time can be set on unpacking.
            Windows allows to set all three times, Unix - modification
            and last access, but not creation.

            Examples:

            1) rar a -ts backup

            Store all file times with the highest possible precision.

            2) rar x -tsa backup

            Restore modification and last access time. Switch -tsm
            is not required, because RAR uses it by default.

            3) rar a -tsm1 -tsc1 backup

            Store low precision modification and creation time.
            Without -tsm1 RAR would save the high precision modification
            time.


    -u      Update files. May be used with archive extraction or creation.
            The command string "a -u" is equivalent to the command 'u', you
            could also use the switch '-u' with the commands 'm' or 'mf'. If
            the switch '-u' is used with the commands 'x' or 'e', then files
            not present on the disk and files newer than their copies on the
            disk would extracted from the archive.


    -v      Create volumes with size autodetection or list all volumes

            This switch may be used when creating or listing volumes.

            In the first case it enables volume size autodetection,
            so new volumes will use all available space on the destination
            media. It is convenient when creating volumes on removable
            disks. You may read more about volumes in -v<size> description.

            In the second case, when this switch is used together with
            'V' or 'L' command, it forces RAR to list contents of all
            volumes starting from that specified in the command line.
            Without this switch RAR displays contents of only one single
            specified volume.


    -v<size>[k|b|f|m|M|g|G]
            Create volumes with size=<size>*1000 [*1024 | *1].
            By default this switch uses <size> as thousands (1000) of bytes
            (not 1024 x bytes). You may also enter the size in kilobytes
            using the symbol 'k', in bytes using the symbol 'b',
            megabytes - 'm', millions of bytes - 'M', gigabytes - 'g',
            billions (milliards) of bytes - 'G' or select one of several
            predefined values using the symbol 'f' following the numerical
            value. Predefined values can be 360, 720, 1200, 1440 or 2880
            and replaced with corresponding floppy disk size.

            If the size is omitted, autodetection will be used.

            You may specify several -v switches to set different sizes
            for different volumes. For example:

              rar a -v100k -v200k -v300k arcname

            sets 100 KB size for first volume, 200 KB for second
            and 300 KB for all following volumes.

            If volumes are created on removable media, then after
            the creation of the first volume, the user will be prompted
            with:

              Create next volume: Yes/No/All

            At this moment in time, you should change the disks. Answering
            'A' will cause all volumes to be created without a pause.

            By default RAR volumes have names like 'volname.partNNN.rar',
            where NNN is the volume number. Using -vn switch it is 
            possible to switch to another, extension based naming scheme,
            where the first volume file in a multi-volume set has
            the extension .rar, following volumes are numbered from .r00
            to .r99.

            When extracting or testing a multi-volume archive you must use
            only the first volume name. If there is no next volume
            on the drive and the disk is removable, the user will be
            prompted with:

             Insert disk with <next volume name>

            Insert the disk with the correct volume and press any key.

            If while extracting, the next volume is not found and volumes
            are placed on the non-removable disk, RAR will abort with
            the error message:

             Cannot find <volume name>

            Archive volumes may not be modified. The commands 'd', 'f', 'u',
            's' cannot be used with Multi-volume sets. The command 'a' may
            be used only for the creation of a new multi-volume sequence.

            It is possible, although unlikely, that the file size, of a file
            in a multi-volume set, could be greater than its uncompressed
            size. This is due to the fact that 'storing' (no compression if
            size increases) cannot be enabled for multi-volume sets.

            Archive volumes may be Self-Extracting (SFX). Such an archive
            should be created using both the '-v' and '-sfx' switches.

            Example:

            create archive in volumes of fixed size:

            rar a -s -v1440 floparch.rar *.*

            will create solid volumes of size 1440000 bytes.


    -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.


    -ver[n] File version control

            Forces RAR to keep previous file versions when updating
            files in the already existing archive. Old versions are
            renamed to 'filename;n', where 'n' is the version number.

            By default, when unpacking an archive without the switch
            -ver, RAR extracts only the last added file version, the name
            of which does not include a numeric suffix. But if you specify
            a file name exactly, including a version, it will be also
            unpacked. For example, 'rar x arcname' will unpack only
            last versions, when 'rar x arcname file.txt;5' will unpack
            'file.txt;5', if it is present in the archive.

            If you specify -ver switch without a parameter when unpacking,
            RAR will extract all versions of all files that match
            the entered file mask. In this case a version number is
            not removed from unpacked file names. You may also extract
            a concrete file version specifying its number as -ver parameter.
            It will tell RAR to unpack only this version and remove
            a version number from file names. For example,
            'rar x -ver5 arcname' will unpack only 5th file versions.

            If you specify 'n' parameter when archiving, it will limit
            the maximum number of file versions stored in the archive.
            Old file versions exceeding this threshold will be removed.


    -vn     Use the old style volume naming scheme

            By default RAR volumes have names like 'volname.partNNN.rar',
            where NNN is the volume number. Using -vn switch it is 
            possible to switch to another, extension based naming scheme,
            where the first volume file in a multi-volume set has
            the extension .rar, following volumes are numbered from .r00
            to .r99.


    -vp     Pause before each volume

            By default RAR asks for confirmation before creating
            or unpacking next volume only for removable disks.
            This switch forces RAR to ask such confirmation always.
            It can be useful if disk space is limited and you wish
            to copy each volume to another media immediately after
            creation.


    -w<p>   Assign work directory as <p>. This switch may be used to assign
            the directory for temporary files.


    -x<f>   Exclude the specified <f> file or directory. Wildcards can be
            used in both the name and path parts of file mask. You can
            specify the switch '-x' several times to define several
            exclusion masks in the same command line.

            If mask contains wildcards, it applies to files in current
            directory and its subdirectories. It is not recursive without
            wildcards, so "filename" mask will exclude 'filename' file
            only in current directory when archiving or in root archive
            directory when extracting.
            
            Use "*\filename" syntax to exclude "filename" recursively
            in all directories.
            
            If you know the exact path to file, you can use "path\filename"
            syntax to exclude only this copy of "filename". If you use
            -xpath\filename syntax when unpacking an archive, "path" must be
            the path inside of archive, not the file path on the disk after
            unpacking.

            By default, masks containing wildcards are applied only to files.
            If you need a mask with wildcards to exclude several directories,
            use the special syntax for directory exclusion masks.
            Such masks must have the trailing path separator character
            ('\' for Windows and '/' for Unix). For example, "*tmp*\" mask
            will exclude all directories matching "*tmp*" and "*\tmp\" will
            exclude all 'tmp' directories. Since wildcards are present,
            both masks will be applied to contents of current directory
            and all its subdirectories.

            If you wish to exclude only one directory, specify the exact
            name of directory including the absolute or relative path
            without any wildcards. In this case you do not need to append
            the path separator to mask, which is required only for directory
            exclusion masks containing wildcards to distinguish them
            from file exclusion masks.

            Examples:

            1) rar a -r -x*.jpg -x*.avi rawfiles

            compress all files except *.jpg and *.avi in current directory
            and its subdirectories;

            2) rar a -r -x*\temp\ savec c:\*

            compress all files on the disk c: except 'temp' directories
            and files inside of 'temp' directories;

            3) rar x -x*.txt docs

            extract all files except *.txt from docs.rar.


    -x@<lf> Exclude files listed in the specified list file. If you use -x@
            without the list file name parameter, it will read file names
            from stdin.

            Example:

            rar a -x@exlist.txt arch *.exe


    -y      Assume Yes on all queries.


    -z[f]   Read archive comment from file <f>. Use with -sc switch
            if you need to specify the character set for comment text file.
            If <f> is not specified, comment is read from stdin.



 Limitations
 ~~~~~~~~~~~

    Pathname is limited to 259 symbols.

    Maximum archive comment length is 62000 bytes.

    Command limitations:

    The commands 'd','u','f','c','cf' will not operate with archive
    volumes.

    The command 'a' cannot be used to update an archive volume, only to
    create a new one.


 Exit values
 ~~~~~~~~~~~

    RAR exits with a zero code (0) in case of successful operation.
    Non-zero exit code indicates some kind of error:

       0   SUCCESS          Successful operation.

       1   WARNING          Non fatal error(s) occurred.
       
       2   FATAL ERROR      A fatal error occurred.

       3   CRC ERROR        Invalid CRC32 control sum. Data is damaged.

       4   LOCKED ARCHIVE   Attempt to modify an archive previously locked
                            by the 'k' command.

       5   WRITE ERROR      Write to disk error.

       6   OPEN ERROR       Open file error.

       7   USER ERROR       Command line option error.

       8   MEMORY ERROR     Not enough memory for operation.

       9   CREATE ERROR     Create file error

      10   NO FILES ERROR   No files matching the specified mask were found.

     255   USER BREAK       User stopped the process


 Glossary
 ~~~~~~~~

    Archive      Special file containing one or more files optionally
                 compressed and/or encrypted.

    Compression  A method of encoding data to reduce it's size.

    CRC          Cyclic Redundancy Check. Mathematical method calculating
                 special checking information for data validity.

    SFX          Archive module used to extract files from when executed.
                 (SelF-eXtracting module), usually in the form of a .EXE
                 file.

    Solid        An archive packed using a special compression method which
                 sees all files as one continuous data stream. Particularly
                 advantageous when packing a large number of small files.

    Volume       Part of a split archive. Splitting an archive to volumes
                 allows storing them on several removable disks.
                 Solid volumes must be extracted starting from first 
                 volume in sequence.



 Copyrights

    (c) 1993-2011 Alexander Roshal



