Print RAR File to Terminal Using Unrar

You can read the contents of a text file stored inside a RAR archive directly in the terminal without extracting it to your disk first. The standard unrar utility includes a built-in print command that outputs file data straight to standard output (stdout). This guide explains how to use the command, suppress unwanted utility banners, and pipe the output to other command-line tools.

The Basic Command

To print a file to the terminal, use the p (print) command followed by the archive name and the specific file you want to view:

unrar p archive.rar document.txt

This command decompresses document.txt in memory and writes its text directly to the console.

Suppressing Archive Information and Headers

By default, unrar prints diagnostic information, version headers, and archive comments along with the file contents. To output only the clean text—which is essential for scripts or viewing long documents—add the -inul (disable all messages) flag:

unrar p -inul archive.rar document.txt

With -inul enabled, standard output receives only the raw content of the specified file.

Specifying Files in Subdirectories

If the target text file is located inside a folder within the RAR archive, provide the relative path to the file:

unrar p -inul archive.rar path/to/document.txt

Piping Output to Other Commands

Because the p command sends text to standard output, you can pipe the contents directly into other command-line utilities:

  • Page through long files:

    unrar p -inul archive.rar document.txt | less

  • Search for specific text:

    unrar p -inul archive.rar document.txt | grep "search_term"

  • Redirect the output to a new file:

    unrar p -inul archive.rar document.txt > extracted_text.txt

Working with Password-Protected Archives

If the archive is encrypted, supply the password using the -p switch directly after the command:

unrar p -inul -pYOUR_PASSWORD archive.rar document.txt

If you do not specify the password in the command, unrar will prompt you to enter it in the terminal before printing the contents.