RAR is a powerful tool which allows you to manage and control archive files. The archive is usually a regular file, which name has a ".rar" suffix.

RAR also comes in the following other editions: RAR for Linux and RAR for FreeBSD.

To use the RAR command line application, place the files in any folder on your hard drive, and call the utility by typing in the full path to the application (e.g., to run from the current directory, type "./rar" or "./unrar" followed by the appropriate parameters). Typing the application name (rar or unrar) without any parameters will produce a helpful guide to each program's usage.

Here are some key features of "RAR for Mac OS X":

· RAR introduces an original compression algorithm. It allows higher compression ratios than other PC archiving tools, especially on executable files, object libraries, large text files, etc.
· RAR offers an optional compression algorithm highly optimized for multimedia data.
· RAR provides functionality for creating a 'solid' archive, which can raise the compression ratio by 10% - 50% over more common methods, particularly when packing large numbers of small files.
· RAR offers the ability to create and change SFX archives using default and external SFX modules.
· RAR offers the ability to create a multi-volume archive as SFX.
· RAR offers a number of service functions, such as setting a password, adding archive and file comments. Even physically damaged archives may be repaired and an archive may be locked to prevent further changes. Authenticity information may be added for additional security and RAR will store information on the last update and name of the archive.

Limitations:

· 40 days trial.

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

Bugs fixed:
· hexadecimal search in "ih" command failed to find matches if first byte in search string was greater than 127.