Quick start: archiving files from the command line

The common command line syntax for archiving files is:

WinRAR A [ -switches ] <Archive> [ Files ] [ @File lists ]

For example, if you wish add the file LETTER.TXT to the archive LETTERS.RAR, type:

WinRAR A LETTERS.RAR LETTER.TXT

If an archive extension is not specified, WinRAR will use the default archive format selected in the default compression profile, but you may override it by specifying either .RAR or .ZIP extension.

The next example: add all *.WAV files to the solid RAR archive Songs:

WinRAR A -S Songs.RAR *.WAV

Also it is possible to list the files to be archived in a file, rather than listing them on the command line. In this case the name of the file, containing the list of files to be archived, must be given on the command line. This is indicated by placing the symbol @ before this file name. Thus, if you create a file, Binaries, containing the strings *.exe and *.com, then execute the command:

WinRAR A TOOLS.ZIP @Binaries

all files with .EXE and .COM extensions from the current folder will be added to the ZIP archive TOOLS.

During the archiving process, a window, containing statistics, will be displayed. If you wish to break the archiving process, click on the Cancel button in the command window. You may press the "Background" button in this window to minimize WinRAR to the tray. If archiving is completed, without problems, WinRAR will terminate. In case of an error, a Diagnostic message window will be displayed.

See Command-line interface for detailed descriptions of commands and switches.