Here is how to install a free command line UnRAR tool (a RAR file extractor) and the RAR tool on Mac OS X. It’s simple and did I mention it’s free?
May 09, 2020. UnRAR is a simple utility that unpacks RAR archives under Mac OS X. UnRAR lists for 99 cents. Released by the originators of the RAR format, unRAR is available from the App Store and many Web sites. Jun 11, 2014. Download an app from the these link which can identify rar files, both apps are fine but we like. Unzip RAR for Mac OS X, download best alternative solutions carefully chosen by our editors and user community.
There is an image at the end of this post showing the steps taken in Terminal. Also, if you have Homebrew installed, you can use this for the installation of UNRAR. See instructions further down the page.
Step 1
Download latest RAR for OS X “RAR 5.2.1 for Mac OS X” (or a later version if there is one) from RARLab.
Assuming that file is downloaded to your ~/Downloads folder, double click it to extract the files. You should now see in your ~/Downloads folder a folder called ~/Downloads/rarosx-5.2.1 (the number will be different if you downloaded a newer version since I late updated this post). In that folder is a /rar folder. So the full path is ~/Downloads/rarosx-5.2.1/rar
If you downloaded it to some other location then your file path will be different. Whatever it is, make a note of it.
Step 2
Open Terminal.app. Just type Terminal into Spotlight (Command-Space to quickly access Spotlight). In Terminal.app type or paste the following (again remember to change the version number if you have a later version):
Step 3
For OS X up to 10.9.x (if using Yosemite, first follow instructions as indicated a little further down the page)
Os X Unrar
Now type or paste:
Whilst you’re at it, you might as well install the RAR tool too. Use this command in Terminal:
For OS X 10.10.x (Yosemite)
In Apple OS X 10.10.x (i.e. Yosemite) there is no /usr/local/bin folder by default. So you will need to first create this folder.
Now following the above instructions “For OS X up to 10.9.x”
Step 4
After you hit enter on that command Terminal will prompt you for your password. Type it in and hit enter.
Step 5
To test the installation went okay simply type unrar into Terminal. You should see a lot information appear in terminal. This is simply the details on how to use unrar and it shows that unrar is install.
Now you can UnRAR rar archives from the Command Line in Terminal.
To do an extraction use the x switch as shown below.
TIP: To save yourself typing out the full path to the RAR file, you can simply grab the file in Finder and drag it onto Terminal. Do that after you’ve typed in unrar x(space)
Other neat things you can do with command-line RAR/UNRAR
– Extracting RAR archive files from the command-line
– Repair damaged RAR files on Mac OS from the command-line
– Testing RAR archive files for corruption in Mac OS X from the command-line
Freeware
macOS
572 KB
3,551,949
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Note: WinRAR for macOS is a command-line only application. If you want a more intuitive GUI client for your compression / decompression needs we suggest you try: The Unarchiver, unRarX or RAR Expander.
WinRAR puts you ahead of the crowd when it comes to compression. By consistently creating smaller archives, WinRAR is often faster than the competition. This will save you disc space, transmission costs AND valuable working time as well.
Features:
WinRAR supports all popular compression formats (RAR, ZIP, CAB, ARJ, LZH, ACE, TAR, GZip, UUE, ISO, BZIP2, Z and 7-Zip).
WinRAR is ideal for multimedia files. WinRAR automatically recognizes and selects the best compression method. The special compression algorithm compresses multimedia files, executables and object libraries particularly well.
WinRAR allows you to split archives into separate volumes easily, making it possible to save them on several disks for example.
WinRAR is also ideal, if you are sending data through the web. Its 128 bit password encryption and its authenticated signature technology will give you the peace of mind you have been looking for.
WinRAR is shareware, meaning you have the chance to thoroughly test it. The program can be used absolutely free of charge for 40 days!
WinRAR licenses are valid for all available language and platform versions. If you have purchased several licenses, you can even mix versions to meet your own personal needs.
Dialogs are centered inside of WinRAR window similarly to WinRAR 5.80 and not inside of entire screen as in WinRAR 5.90.
When editing an archived file with external software, extra measures are taken to reduce the probability of interfering with editor and opening its temporary files while editor still may need them.
'Version to extract' field in archive properties opened from Windows Explorer context menu provides the additional information about ZIP compression and encryption algorithms, such as LZMA or AES. This information was already available in WinRAR 'Info' command, but missed in archive information accessible from Windows Explorer.
'MS DOS' and 'Unix' host OS types are recognized and included for LZH archives in 'Info' command. Previously the host OS field was always 'Unknown' for LZH archive format.
Files created by external editor and matching 'Settings/Viewer/ Ignore modifications for' masks are never added to archive. Previously WinRAR still added them if some file not matching these masks was also created or modified.
Bugs fixed:
empty file names were displayed inside of some Unix LZH archives
WinRAR could not process more than 999 7z volumes in a single set
if user cancelled the user account control prompt after changing 'Integrate WinRAR into shell' option, a new state of this option was displayed in 'Settings' dialog, even though the actual state of shell integration was not modified
the main window size could be too small on the first run after clean install with no previous WinRAR version present
WinRAR could stop responding after editing an archived file with external software in Windows 10 version 2004.
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