How to Pause Unrar After Each Screen of Text

When viewing the contents of large RAR archives from the command line, the output often scrolls past too quickly to read. This guide explains how to pause the unrar file listing after each full screen of text by redirecting standard output to command-line pagers like more and less.

Using the more Pager (Universal)

The unrar utility does not contain a built-in pause switch, but you can pipe its output into the standard more utility. This method works out of the box on Linux, macOS, and the Windows Command Prompt.

Run the following command to list files:

unrar l archive.rar | more

If you prefer a detailed, verbose list, replace l with v:

unrar v archive.rar | more
  • Spacebar: Advance to the next full screen.
  • Enter: Advance by one line.
  • Q: Exit the viewer immediately and return to the prompt.

Using the less Pager (Linux and macOS)

On Unix-like operating systems, piping into less provides greater flexibility, including the ability to scroll backward through previously displayed text.

Run the listing command with less:

unrar l archive.rar | less
  • Spacebar / Page Down: Move forward one screen.
  • B / Page Up: Move backward one screen.
  • Up / Down Arrows: Scroll line by line.
  • / [search term]: Search forward for a specific filename or text string.
  • Q: Exit and return to the terminal.

Windows PowerShell Alternative

If you are using Windows PowerShell, you can use the built-in Out-Host -Paging cmdlet to achieve the same result:

unrar l archive.rar | Out-Host -Paging

This displays one page at a time and prompts you to press the Spacebar for the next page or Q to quit.