How to Output Unrar Data in Hex Format

This guide explains how to extract and view the contents of a RAR archive directly in hexadecimal format using the command line. Because the native unrar utility does not include a standalone flag for hex encoding, the process involves streaming the extracted file contents to standard output and piping that stream directly into a hex-dump utility like xxd or hexdump.

The Command

To output extracted data in hexadecimal format, use the p (print to stdout) command along with the -inul (suppress messages) switch, piped into a hex tool:

unrar p -inul archive.rar filename.ext | xxd

If you prefer using hexdump instead of xxd, run:

unrar p -inul archive.rar filename.ext | hexdump -C

To view the hex output of all files within the archive sequentially, omit the specific filename:

unrar p -inul archive.rar | xxd

Command Breakdown

  • p: Instructs unrar to extract the specified file and print its raw byte stream directly to standard output (stdout) instead of saving it to the disk.
  • -inul: Disables all informational and banner messages generated by unrar. Without this switch, error messages, version info, and extraction progress text would mix with the file data and corrupt the hex view.
  • archive.rar: The path to your target RAR archive.
  • filename.ext: The optional path or name of the specific file inside the archive you wish to inspect.
  • | (pipe): Sends the raw binary stream directly from unrar into the next program without writing temporary files.
  • xxd or hexdump -C: Command-line hex dump utilities that accept raw binary data from standard input and format it into standard hexadecimal and ASCII representations.

Saving the Hex Output to a File

If the output is large and you need to save the formatted hex dump for later analysis, redirect the final output to a text file:

unrar p -inul archive.rar filename.ext | xxd > output.hex