How to Check the UNRAR Binary Version

Determining the exact version of the unrar binary on your system depends on whether you are running the proprietary RARLAB build or the open-source unrar-free package. This guide explains which switches to use to retrieve the exact version number for both implementations, as well as how to filter the output down to just the version string.

Official RARLAB UNRAR

The official, proprietary version of unrar distributed by RARLAB does not include a dedicated standalone version switch (such as --version or -v).

Instead, the version number is embedded in the default program banner. To display it, run the command with no arguments:

unrar

The first line of the output will display the exact version:

UNRAR 6.24 freeware      Copyright (c) 1993-2023 Alexander Roshal

If you only want the version line without the entire help screen, pipe the command into head:

unrar | head -n 1

Open-Source UNRAR (unrar-free)

If your system uses the GNU unrar-free package (common in default package repositories on Debian and Ubuntu systems), standard GNU version flags are supported.

The switch to display the exact version is -V (uppercase) or --version:

unrar -V

or

unrar --version

This returns the specific package version and license details directly.